Guy Tillim
dal 13/9/2013 al 21/12/2013
Segnalato da
13/9/2013
Guy Tillim
Centre Photographique d'Ile de France CPIF, Pontault-Combault
Second Nature. The exhibition comprises two series of photos he took in French Polynesia and Sao Paulo between 2010 and 2011. This group of photos explores to what extent a photographer can truly render a natural or urban landscape.
The Centre Photographique d’Ile-de-France is pleased to welcome
the second large-scale monographic exhibition in France by that
key figure of contemporary South African photography, Guy Tillim.
After presenting his series Jo’burg and Avenue Patrice Lumumba in
2009 at the Henri Cartier-Bresson Foundation in Paris, Guy Tillim will
exhibit his latest project for the very first time in France at the CPIF.
Second Nature comprises two series of photos he took in French Polynesia
and São Paulo between 2010 and 2011.
This group of photos explores to what extent a photographer can truly
render a natural or urban landscape by evoking a question which is inherent
to the representation of landscape: “How much do you ‘give’ a scene and
how much do you let it speak for itself?”
The Polynesian landscape has been the subject of numerous sketches and
photos since Captain Cook’s voyages at the end of the 18th century, perhaps
because it almost eludes any convincing form of representation. When Guy
Tillim takes photos of a landscape, he sets himself the task of “actually
seeing the landscape. It’s a space that changes its face with a glance or a
ghost of a thought.1” Rather than represent a landscape through details
or its monumentality, he is trying to capture an in-between space which
makes this representation of nature seems familiar, where each element
can express itself equally and without hierarchy.
As if looking for a modern counterpoint to his Polynesian photos, Guy Tillim
travelled to São Paulo – a town which has also been filmed, photographed
and described from every conceivable angle. Here too, he was seeking
a new way of describing a city of which it has been said that “its total
absence of personality has become its personality.” Guy Tillim took the
same approach to this urban landscape as to the landscapes of Polynesia:
“I show a sort of indeterminate area. The things that we don’t notice, as
they are quotidian things. They contribute as much to the landscape as
the other things2.
Born in 1962 in Johannesburg, South Africa. Lives and works in Cape Town.
Guy Tillim has been a freelance photographer since 1986 and was a member of the
Afrapix collective until 1990. Between 1986 and 1988, he worked for Reuters and then
for Agence France Presse from 1993 to 1994. His work has previously been presented
at the Huis Marseille Museum for Photography in Amsterdam (2012), the Museum
of Contemporary Photography in Chicago (2011) and at the Henri Cartier- Bresson
Foundation (2009). Amongst others, he took part in Documenta 12 in Kassel (2007)
and the triennial ‘Intense Proximity’ at the Palais de Tokyo in Paris (2012).
Event organized with Stevenson Cape Town and Johannesburg as part of
the France-South Africa Seasons 2012 & 2013
www.france-southafrica.com
Press Contacts:
Hélène Loupias T. 01 70054982 helene.loupias@cpif.net
Guillaume Fontaine T. 01 64435390 guillaume.fontaine@cpif.net
Opening saturday 14th at 3 p.m
shuttle from Paris for the opening - Reservation required
Press event friday 13th september from 11 a.m to 2 p.m
Centre Photographique d’Ile-de-France (CPIF)
Cour de la Ferme Briarde 107 avenue de la République 77 340 Pontault-Combault
Open Wednesday to Friday 10 am-6 pm
Saturday and Sunday 2-6 pm
Free Entry