Denis Darzacq: La Chute.
I’ve not discussed any art for quite some time, so what better way to dip our toes in the proverbial art waters once again than with Denis Darzacq, winner of this year’s World Press Photo prize in the “Arts and Entertainment” category.
His latest works, which form the collection entitled “The Fall” have set the art world alight, with his displays in Galerie Vu, Paris, attracting massive crowds. On show until 5th May, his images portray a series of young men seemingly falling at great speed toward the ground. The series of images were all taken with a manual camera and no post-editing in image programs such as Photoshop.
No, instead he employed a series of break dancers who were not only part of the ignored younger generation, but also those he knew were able to pull off complex kinetic moves.
The whole collection forms an interesting response to the riots in Paris, 2005, and the alienation of youths on France suburban housing estates. Darzacq dreamt up The Fall in 2006. A depiction of France in free fall, ignored by society, Darzacq sees modern France as a place where someone could tumble from the sky and no one walking down the street would bat an eyelid.
As for the closed doors and shutters in each image, Darzacq asks anyone to find him a ground-floor flat in Paris where the shutters or windows are open. “People are afraid of each other, everyone is a victim of crime - that’s a constant reality in Paris. I didn’t ask anyone to close their blinds. It’s the sad reality of how people live. Who would even see a kid fall?”
“I hate this visual idea of Paris as a baguette or Catherine Deneuve carrying a bunch of flowers,” Darzacq says. “That’s why we lost the Olympics. I’d like us to be able to speak of modernity without blushing.”
More Images can be viewed via Guardian Unlimited, and his collection seen at Galerie Vu.
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3 Responses to “Denis Darzacq: La Chute.”
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I really, really like this. Always good to see some unedited photography, even though I’m not a fascist with that stuff, and it has a great visual impact.
Awesome stuff.
It’s quite innovative, though I’m sure I’ve seen something very similar in the past. Admittedly quite a few of his images are not as good as I had hoped them to be: men with arms and legs already touching the ground do not have the same shock impact as one four feet from the concrete.
Hopefully the collection’s raging popularity will reach across to the newspapers and spread the message of a large and disenfranchised lower-middle-class generation.
Comment problem fixed, thanks for bringing it to my attention!