Jim Sumkay, the most known of the anonymous photographers, was born in 1954 in Liège (B humanist photographer p). It is rapid that this humanist photographer of closeness practises shooting of the everyday life. Always available, obstinate, he goes towards others, meets people and dedicates all his energy in setting up/publishing a permanent and ordred chronicle about livres and évents (even when the latte do not take place) wherever it happens.
The commonplace meets the exceptional, whether it takes place in the city or in the countryside ; every images is carefully dated and the location identified. Jim Sumkay could be compared to a compan of public interest, because if he « takes » the image of people, he sends it back to them, like a mirror would do… very fast and if possible in the context….
Extract of a text written by Georges Vercheval in « Culture et Democratie », in December 2008
