Photography Exhibition Marc Pollini : Islande, Black island

The exhibition Iceland, Black Island by Marc Pollini will be held at the Nice Photo Museum, Galerie Charles Nègre, until September 20, 2020.

Iceland, Black island

Through these photos I wanted to highlight certain peculiarities of this island.

An island where the harshness of its nature and its immensity take precedence over man. A form of confinement is exerted on it and being myself insular I know this paradoxical feeling of nature often synonymous with freedom and the notion of confinement.

It is this paradox that I wanted to highlight in this work which lasted more than two years for which I have visited Iceland several times in different places and seasons.

Although the framework of this series seems clearly defined, I designed it as usual in the photo like a ride or rather a wandering without ever knowing precisely what I am looking for, in the expectation, in the contemplation of this nature or on the lookout for something going on, like this meeting with this old disabled man, or this tattooed man who agrees to pose for me in an unlikely place after having indicated my way to the north end of the island .

The choice of black and white was imposed on me, as a matter of course.

Marc Pollini

Presentation

Photography is for me a process that triggers a more intimate perception of the world around me and in this sense broadens my vision.

My intention as a photographer and the act of photographing frees me from anything that can interfere with my subject to get closer to it. These moments are special and I like to think that only photographers know this.

The intention is cerebral, sometimes I don’t understand it until long after.

The act is physical and it is of real tension.

I find there an outlet that brings me escape, appeasement but always reflection and I sincerely hope that others too can feel it.

Marc Pollini

From his Corsican origins, Marc Pollini has kept a form of simplicity in his photographic writing.

In his own way, sometimes very direct, sometimes with black, white, gray or colored cutouts, he shows the world as he sees it.

The theme of emptiness, that of calm and the absence of human traces is often explored.

And yet he constantly returns in his photos a human presence, his conditions, his pangs, such over the course of a journey, a stroll, a wandering as if to tell us a story.

The subjective, the out of scope is what he favors in the photo.

Sophie Verdeau painter artist

Presentation of the Book

Publication of the eponymous book, Iceland, black island in the editions of Air books, prefaced by Bernard Plossu photographer and Wiliam Navarette writer.

He went to the island with a map and a bag, by car and on foot. Between 2018 and 2019, Marc Pollini made four trips to this land of fire and ice. There he meets people and landscapes. Go from place to place, carried by wind, snow, and the roads that take it anywhere. He wanders and likes it. Through his eyes one discovers a dark, disturbing, mysterious Iceland. His road movie is punctuated with images that seem to be taken from a great sleep. The silences are heavy, the cries muffled, the omniscient nature. In what seems to be a world apart, the departure of a famous “Vernien” journey, the border is thin between there and beyond. Until the end of the story, the viewer wonders which side of the mirror Marc Pollini lets go.

Stéphane Brasca Editor of L’air des Livres.

More information on: https://marcpollini.com/presentation/ and http://museephotographie.nice.fr/

*The museum will normally re-open its doors on July 1st, 2020.