Last Friday we wrote about the exhibition Œil pour œil to mark the fifth anniversary of Signatures, Maison de Photographes. Every week we’ll be presenting you with a series on display at the Hôtel de Sauroy through June 14th, which places the work of 8 different artists into dialogue. Today’s first comparison is between two series by Tina Merandon and Bruno Amsellem.
FEAR – Tina Merandon
The series Dogs shows animals ready to attack. The composition of the images, where the violently lit animals seem to leap out from the night, heightens the tension, instilling fear in the viewer and opening the door for the elemental terrors which haunt our nightmares. Faced with such images, several dimensions of our fears clash: the irrational fear of monsters and the realistic fear of violence. Both the frightened child and the adult in us respond to these pictures. Our unconscious is fed by the violence of our collective and personal histories.
FOREIGN – Bruno Amsellem
In August 2007, on assignment for Le Monde, I covered the early-morning eviction of a shantytown occupied by Roma in Vénissieux, France. The Roma, surrounded by the police, their backpacks on their shoulders, were directed towards a bus headed for Romania, the first step in an “assisted return” program. Having visited shantytowns in the Lyon region since 2001, that day I felt the need to tell the story of their citizens, beyond what usually makes it into the papers, beyond the clichés that prevent us from really seeing them and understanding why they’ve left their native country to live in deplorable conditions. That was when I made the acquaintance of Tarzan Covaci and his family, who found refuge in an abandoned house.
EXHIBITION
Œil pour œil
Regards croisés, cinq ans de Signatures
May 17 – June 14, 2014
Opening on May 20th from 6pm to 9.30pm
Hôtel de Sauroy
58, rue Charlot
75003 Paris
France
Photographers on view : Bernard Plossu (Intime), Bruno Amsellem (Etranger), Xavier Lambours (Sexe), Raphaël Helle (Dérèglement climatique), Johann Rousselot (Colères), Tina Merandon (Peurs), Eric Dexheimer (Mort) and Michel Nguie (Borderline)
