“I was in the circus … until the accident”.
That is a reasonable version of how Sylvain Granjon replied to my “tell me about yourself” question last summer in Arles. My heart soared with the prospect of pictures made by someone who has been communicating to a very different – non-photographic – audience; there was the possibility of magic.
Welcome to the crazy antics of Mr. Zuper. I respond to the spirit, to the joy of this work. Think of the early 20th Century “Cottingley Fairies” and how they beguiled Conan Doyle. Mr. Zuper’s impossible seduction of Amazonian Barbie is an epic visual romance.
Full disclosure, Kamil Tyebally was my student at the School of Visual Arts last year. I am the mentor he would send his Baghdad photographs to, all part of a longer project. I like that this personal diaristic work, a reportage of sorts, is put through a conceptual prism. It makes for a unique body of work.
One of the things that I am struck by after four weeks of Le Journal portfolio submissions is how important that first image is, how it must clearly set up the rest of the series. Ironically my favorite body of work came from Tara Sellios whose first image, a surreal but formulaic triptych of what looks to be a squid, was NOT my favorite; however, I was dazzled by other work, especially her still life of sardines (I think), an outstanding homage to the master, Mr. Penn.
As Jean-Jacques Naudet, Le Journal‘s publisher and life force, says “you must took at everything”. Indeed.
W.M Hunt
That was the W.M Hunt’s comment, with his last selection. Next week, it will be Diane Dufour who will be in charge of the portfolios for the month of March. Diane Dufour has been the director of Magnum Photo from 2000 to 2006 and curator for various exhibitions. She also created LE BAL with Raymond Depardon, an exhibition space dedicated to photography, in Paris.
Applicants must send a minimum of 7 images, and a maximum of 15 (1024 pixels, 72 dpi), along with a short text of presentation of their approach to photography also indicating age, nationality, and place of residence.
