African portraits

In Benin the Klui-Klui is adeep fried arachide stick. Klui-Klui is made by groups of women that sell them on the market. It is a basic source of revenue for many families. I love the smiles and the simplicity of these faces. Their dignity is very impressive. Men are occupyed by running the machines. But they also mostly build and repair them. Their innovative capacity is impressive!

The people of Karosta

As Hern42 wrote, in Karosta, there are wrecked buildings, relics of a past when it was a russian navy base ; in the middle of it, a shining jewel : their golden orthodox cathedral. An art center, too, where people try to introduce modern culture in a place that has become a ghetto. And there is this crazy group of european artist/architects collectively known as Exyzt (www.exyzt.org), who could not of course prevent themselves from being attracted to this weird environment and from creating from scratch an art festival there, for the people of Karosta. Oh yes, because in Karosta,…

Communication

Communication, it is probably the lack of it we felt when leaving Shangai on the way to the Xinjiang. It was like falling into a strange world along the ancient Silk Road: being in China without feeling like it and to catch a glimpse of Middle-East without reaching it. These pictures transcribe some signs we still have to decode and some exchanges we would like to understand. (Pictures from Xinjiang – China – 2004)