Festival du Regard 2022 – 7e édition – Bonjour la nuit!
Paris 55’’ N 2012-08-13 LST 22-15 © Thierry Cohen /courtesy galerie Esther Woerdehoff
Written by Anvita Brahmbhatt
Copy Edited by Taina Millsap
Photo Edited by Yanting Chen
For the seventh edition of Festival Du Regard, viewers immerse in the nocturnal worlds of 20 photographers from all over the world. Bonjour La Nuit! (Hello, Good Night!) includes photographs by Merry Alpern, Evgen Bavcar, Thierry Cohen, Juliette Agnel, Evgenia Arbugaeva, René Burri, Philong Sovan, and Ronan Guillou to name a few. The exhibition is currently on display at the Centre Commercial Les 3 Fontaines, in Paris from October 14 to November 27, 2022.
Evgenia Arbugaeva, a Russian photographer based in London, focuses her photography around ‘magical realism’ and combines documentary and narrative styles to reflect real experiences. Hyperborea is a series with three chapters revolving around life in the Russian Arctic. The series documents the life of a station manager working alone in the Far North, at a lighthouse occupied only by guards and their dogs. The abandoned ghost town is the home of the Chukchi people, a place of great beauty where the aurora borealis can be seen. Each photograph represents the loneliness of the extreme weather, juxtaposed alongside the hope and persistence of people that continue to inhabit these places and find beauty in difficult times.
Merry Alpern, an American photographer based in New York, is known for her controversial surveillance techniques. Alpern’s book and body of work titled Dirty Windows depicts scenes from a bathroom at a strip club, photographer through their windows. Documented in 1993, the series shows people kissing and having sex, women changing, and other intimate exchanges. The Dirty Windows series is now a part of the permanent collection at the Whitney Museum and MoMA in NYC, SFMOMA in San Francisco, and the Museum of Fine Arts in Houston.
Serie Dirty Windows • 1993 © Merry Alpern / courtesy galerie Miranda
French photographer Thierry Cohen captures Paris, Tokyo, and New York without the light pollution that encompasses them today. After traveling to different deserts in Asia and Africa and photographing the skies in these landscapes, the photographer restores his photographs of the metropolises without artificial light. These photographs are beautiful recreations of the cities, surrounded by the starry night and signature landmarks. The Extinct Cities series has traveled across the globe and continues to show us a world of simplicity and natural beauty.
Taharqa et la nuit #5 • 2019 © Juliette Agnel/courtesy galerie Clémentine de la Féronnière
Photographer Juliette Agnel traveled to Sudan and the UNESCO World Heritage City Meroe in 2019. Along with the assistance of archaeologist Charles Bonnet, the series Taharqa Et La Nuit refers to the pharaoh Taharqa known for his valiant fights. The series is a reflection of the dark nights many years ago when the pharaohs ruled, as the Nile gushed and people shared their stories...
Image extraite de la série Chukotka • 2019-2020 © Evgenia Arbugaeva / courtesy galerie In Camera
Slovenian photographer Evgen Bavcar lost his eyesight at the age of 12, but has been photographing friends, family, and other subjects for many years. The stories contained in a photograph go beyond what can be seen; they are felt and created. He photographs outdoors only at night. When photographing indoors, he darkens the room and calculates the distance between the lens and the subject. He circulates a light source in the front of the lens and an assistant describes to him what he sees on the negative. Katja reveals a woman, only half of her face visible in thelight and the rest covered in darkness. What that represents and the mystery of the light and shadow is left up to the audience's imagination.
Veronika • 1990 © Evgen Bavcar /courtesy galerie Esther Woerdehoff
