Florian Jayet : Urban depth
Marseille-based photographer Florian Jayet, I discovered during “la Biennale d’Issy 2025”, his art is immersed in the Mediterranean, transforming it into a unique visual laboratory. His images go beyond mere documentation: they form true underwater tableaux where everyday objects, abandoned several meters deep, become relics and symbols. Straddling documentary and fiction, beauty and unease, his photographs interrogate our era with a rare poetic force.
The human footprint, its absurdity and fragility, lies at the heart of his approach. The artifacts he scatters underwater testify to a world in limbo, and this almost surreal staging highlights the impact of our lifestyles on the environment while revealing the mystery and wonder that the ocean holds. Florian doesn’t brandish slogans: he composes visual fables, and enigmas to contemplate, prompting reflection on our relationship with the world, nature, and the legacy we leave behind.
His journey shaped his vision. After ten years in fashion in London, he turned to the social field, working as a specialized educator with vulnerable populations people with disabilities, immigrants, LGBT rights. These experiences feed his photography: a sensitive and political engagement that examines the traces humans leave in social relations as well as in the environment. As a photography instructor within social institutions, he also transforms teaching into a tool for exploration and awareness.
At the core of his work runs a common thread: memory and time. His images explore the persistence of identity, collective heritage, and human traces, revealing the fragile balance between beauty and disappearance, contemplation and alertness. Florian Jayet transforms water into a studio, the abyss into a theater, and photography into an instrument of lucidity and poetry, offering a vision of the world that is at once unsettling, captivating, and profoundly necessary.
Website: www.florianjayet.fr
Instagram: @florianjayet
Your first photographic spark?
Florian Jayet : I discovered the universe of Pierre Molinier in a gallery in Toulouse. I was just 18. It didn’t make me want to become a photographer, but it deeply transformed my relationship to art.
The image maker who inspires you?
Florian Jayet : Right now, I’m very impressed by Philippe Ramette’s work. He makes me reflect on the body’s involvement in the photographic act. I find it profoundly inspiring.
The image you wish you had created?
Florian Jayet : Beer Dream by Gregory Crewdson, from his Twilight series.
The one that moved you the most?
Florian Jayet : Beer Dream, always.
The one that made you angry?
Florian Jayet : A news image that reduces a human tragedy to mere aesthetics.
A key image in your personal pantheon?
Florian Jayet : La corde raide by Philippe Ramette. An image that never says everything, containing the strangeness of the world in a meticulously composed frame.
A photographic memory from your childhood?
Florian Jayet : The Polaroids my mother took during Christmas. They have a particular emotional texture.
The image that obsesses you?
Florian Jayet : An underwater image I’m currently trying to make, involving human presence underwater a logistical nightmare.
The image that changed the world?
Florian Jayet : Napalm Girl by Nick Ut, 1972.
The image that changed your world?
Florian Jayet : The Hand-Shell by Dora Maar. Its striking poetry helped transform my vision as an artist.
If budget were no limit, which artwork would you dream of acquiring?
Florian Jayet : A Sudden Gust of Wind by Jeff Wall.
In your view, what quality is essential to be a good photographer?
Florian Jayet : Being a good observer.
The secret to the perfect image, if it exists?
Florian Jayet : A perfect image tells something without revealing everything.
The person you would like to photograph?
Florian Jayet : My grandfather.
The person you would like to be photographed by?
Florian Jayet : I would love to participate in a staged image by Pierre et Gilles.
An essential photography book?
Florian Jayet : Surrealism by Roger Thérond.
The camera of your childhood?
Florian Jayet : My mother’s Zenit SLR. I photographed everything I saw. I loved looking through the viewfinder… but I didn’t load film.
The one you use today?
Florian Jayet : Canon 5D Mark IV.
Your favorite drug?
Florian Jayet : Dopamine.
The best way for you to disconnect?
Florian Jayet : A small country house with little blue shutters, far from everything.
Your relationship with images?
Florian Jayet : It’s my way of questioning the absurdity of the world.
Your greatest quality?
Florian Jayet : My obsessive side.
Your latest folly?
Florian Jayet : Trying to cover a 10 meters deep seabed with bathroom tiles.
An image to illustrate a new banknote?
Florian Jayet : One phrase: “Money kills.”
The work you wouldn’t have liked to do?
Florian Jayet : Salesman in an insurance company.
Your greatest professional extravagance?
Florian Jayet : Reconstructing an underwater cemetery…
Does photography have the power to change collective perception of an event or era?
Florian Jayet : Yes, it is even one of its main functions. It crystallizes, documents, and guides perspectives.
How do you perceive the influence of social media on the way photographs are created and perceived today?
Florian Jayet : It has democratized photography, but it has also made it banal.
An Instagram account to follow absolutely?
Florian Jayet : @nicokokartinspiration
The last thing you did for the first time?
Florian Jayet : I ate a merguez sandwich at a funfair.
What is a successful photo?
Florian Jayet : A photo that leaves no one indifferent.
What interests you most in an image?
Florian Jayet : Its narrative power. I like to play with codes of reality. I like when people think my photos are AI-generated.
Difference between photography and art photography?
Florian Jayet : Photography shows, art photography questions.
The city, country, or culture you dream of discovering?
Florian Jayet : I no longer dream of traveling the world to discover other cultures or fascinating landscapes. I dream of discovering the culture and extraordinary lives of people around me, minorities, and those who are unseen.
A place you never tire of?
Florian Jayet : The silence of churches.
Your greatest regret?
Florian Jayet : Being too disorganized to have preserved all my images.
Color or black & white?
Florian Jayet : Color, without hesitation.
Daylight or artificial light?
Florian Jayet : A combination of both.
The most photogenic city, in your opinion?
Florian Jayet : Marseille, of course.
If God existed, would you ask Him to pose for you or take a selfie with Him?
Florian Jayet : I would prefer to photograph His shadow.
If I could organize your ideal dinner, who would be at the table?
Florian Jayet : My grandfather. To tell him what I do today.
The image that represents the current state of the world?
Florian Jayet : Birth and Death by Rancinan.
If you had to start over?
Florian Jayet : I would start over exactly the same. But this time, I would load my mother’s Zenit camera with film.
The last word?
Florian Jayet : A seashell fits in one hand. The whole world too, if you frame it well.
