Olivier Culmann began this series of self-portraits in 2009 until 2011, while living in Delhi, and then pursued it into 2013. To achieve these self-portraits, the photographer is at once author, director and actor. Fascinated by the codes of the Indian society that remains largely divided, Olivier Culmann was inspired by movie characters but also by the variety of elements that constitute the identity of the individual: religion, social class, occupation, geographical .
The photographer does not try to categorize or caricaturize Indian society, and even less examine his own identity. His work analyzes the set of social conventions that shape our image to the point of hiding our identity: “Thinking that ‘they are’, these people erase themselves. (…) What the common face says, even made-up, of the actor, is the dismissal of the face, the absence of individuality in favor of integration with the community of origin”, as François Cheval points out in his essay. Olivier Culmann develops an original approach to the photographic document, unraveled in four phases like a collection of short stories.
Step 1: portraits in studio
Step 2 : portraits with use of digital materials
Step 3 : recomposition and colorization of torn photographs
Step 4 : paintings from photographs
EXHIBITION
The Others
Olivier Culmann
From October 17th, 2015 to January 17th, 2016
Musée Nicéphore Niépce
28 Quai des Messageries
71100 Chalon-sur-Saône
France
http://www.museeniepce.com
http://tendancefloue.net/olivierculmann/
