itinerary

I was born in Metz in 1951. After my studies were cut short by the powerful wave of protest that swept across the Western world in 1968, and a period of military service that I don't have very fond memories of, I decided to set sail.

It was travel that led me to photography. Hitchhiking and living off odd jobs, I finally discovered the world.First as a celestial vagabond in search of myself and the Other, following the mythical route to India in the early 1970s, then as an unrepentant traveler driven by an unquenchable thirst for knowledge and novelty in the footsteps of Ella Maillart and Nicolas Bouvier,I very quickly came to feel the need to take up photography and, through images, to enable those who could not travel to do so vicariously. Photography very quickly became an integral part of what was initially an ethnographic approach, which continues to occupy me in my relationship with travel.For almost forty years, I have tirelessly rubbed shoulders with and shared the lives of many of the peoples who, from the Bosphorus to the China Sea, have built great civilizations.

Logically constrained by otherness and in contact with local realities, I had to go beyond the act of photography and use this medium in humanitarian action for the benefit of Handicap International (2000 to 2002).Long-distance trips became less frequent and focused more on Europe. This allowed me to take two short trips to Kiev, Chernobyl, and Pripyat, bringing back powerful images of the aftermath of the disaster.

Last year, after nearly thirty years, I made a “pilgrimage” to India: three months of (re)discoveries and some 8,000 km traveled, mostly using local transportation.
 At the same time, I was drawn to “altered materials” (rust, cracks, etc.) for their potential for abstraction, which generally escapes the eye of the passerby. By getting closer to them, I create non-figurative works that, beyond appearances, ultimately sublimate them.