Thomas Jorion is part of these photographers who hunt the ruins. Hospitals, Hairdresser’s salons, cinemas, gyms… Armed with a large format camera and color negatives, Jorion immortalizes these abandonned places, almost bewitched. This time, his fascination for derelict places led him to Italy, to decrepit palaces and villas. In these Forgotten Palaces, there is a perceptible ambivalent relationship between absence and presence. Haunted by their past, these places leave room for the viewer’s imagination.
As noticed Bérangère Chamboissier, in his photographs Thomas Jorion tries to underline the fragility and ephemeral nature of human existence. « These deserted places where man was but is not anymore questions the viewer it is like a mise en abyme. Are we the authors, the actors of this desertion ? Are we the witnesses of our past or facing what it will become ? When we are not anymore, the beauty of stones are still there. » Here, the stones did not loose their colors yet. The series is sublime.
French photographer born in 1976, Thomas Jorion started to work in finance, before taking pictures. He is the author of the books Ilots intemporels and Timeless Islands. His work has already been exhibited through Europe, the USA and in Japan.
Juliette Deschodt
Palais Oubliés
From November 8 – 30, 2012
Galerie Insula
29 Rue Mazarine
75006 Paris
France
