Hugues Charrier : Histoires de Seins / Breasts Stories

The number of books and exhibitions that revolve around breast cancer, this destructive biological scourge, is becoming inexhaustible. Photographs, paintings, videograms, performances, films, all these communication media are used to assist researchers (via finances) in their therapeutic advances, on the one hand. On the other hand, to provide combative psychological assistance to the warriors and the few male warriors who face these mimetic crabs (there is not one breast cancer, but entire families!).

Many of our photographer friends, attacked by this unpredictable damage, have strived, through their self-portraits or investigations, even photographic romances, to make us understand this world of doubts and hopes.

At a friend’s house, I saw, on the corner of the table, Hugues Charrier’s book. I lingered on the images of this photographer who was unknown to me, because they came from the medical space, from therapy, and from an inexorable dramaturgy. Until now, whether they are good, or often much less good (in such a case, the subject often prevails over the photographic story), the often redundant images, from one author to another, remain at the level of simple observations (important for informative communication). For Hugues Charrier, the images go through the illness, without ignoring it, to show that all aspects and all consequences are an integral part of life. Each image taken individually tells a story, give atmospheres, feelings, personalities, characters, connections. He takes us into a noble intimacy, without the trivial voyeurism always tempting for an author. Here, the image in its construction, its luminosity, its simplicity offers a poetic atmosphere, not very descriptive. However, all the information positioned in the shot tells a story firmly installed.

The big story is the impression that results from all these photographs brought together in a homogeneous whole. Osmosis is a collection of life from all these lives. A coherent amalgam is born from the individuality of several photographs on a poetic melody orchestrated by the author.

If you want to discover these terrifying breast cancers, as avatars of life with respect and to share them, put this book on your living room table.

Thierry Maindrault

the book is available
140 pages
91 color, black and white photographs
dimensions 21 x 21 cm
glossy binding, matte coated
self-publishing without ISBN
30.00 euros + shipping costs

direct sale by the author: [email protected]