Photography

'Apparitions and Cinégraphies’

Where figures turn into art pieces

Jesmina Shanta Aksad

A photograph by Jean-Philippe.

To a photographer like Jean-Philippe, who is inspired by freedom, knowledge, life and motion, photography goes far beyond the face value of an image.

His photographs are not like common photographs, where the object is properly seen. Philippe's photographs are far beyond that. For one single desired photograph, he normally takes 125 to 1,000 shots . Unless he gets the perfect shot, he keeps on taking the same picture and later, he expands these photographs six times or more to obtain a certain image.

Philippe strives for that moment, when he can catch the object at its best. His desired effect is only in his brain which is a combination of light, darkness, shades, figure, and curves and so on. His models are human beings, it is difficult to understand their physiques, with the touches of light and shades of the bodies.

The French photographer, Philippe's solo exhibition titled, 'Apparitions and Cinégraphies' concluded a few weeks ago at the Bengal Gallery.

Born in the city of Amiens in France, Philippe has explored the philosophy of life. His piece, Le Folie Etude, means ‘scream’. In this work a human face is screaming; he does not look altogether normal, his agony comes out in an anguished scream as a protest against society's conventional rules. It is a scream for freedom.

Jean-Philippe Pernot's nudes are like art pieces in the photograph Femme Allongee. In French language, it means, ‘a reclining woman’. The Femme Allongee 02, photograph also gives the same message. This is a picture of a living woman, lying with her legs keeping in an angle. From a distance the woman can be found in the frame. Philippe's specialty is that, he doesn't project the whole body, the slightest part of the body is chosen by him to create the beautiful effect.

The piece La champs, means ‘field’. The picture contains some human figures, which may be engaged in fighting in a war field. A blue sky forms the backdrop, the area is quite lighted. The dark figures with their opposite, the light create a dramatic scene.

The picture titled, La charge means chasing or charging. Police chase ordinary citizens.

La Radeau, was one of his best works at the display. Phillipe says, it's a tribute to the people who have lost everything. It is an image of shipwrecked people and their struggle to stay alive. The trianglular black shades give the images of the boat while the lighted sky gives all the sign of hope and new life.

The photograph, Plato is a tribute to the great Greek philosopher, Plato. Like painter Michael Angelo, Philippe is also inspired by the great philosopher. The picture is created using a model; Phillipe had poured his own ideas of the thinker's face from his imagination.

The exhibition was inaugurated on August 27. Painter Sahabuddin Ahmed, the French envoy to Bangladesh and photographer Shahidul Alam and others spoke. Pernot’s exhibition was a wonderful occasion for the French and Bangladeshis to share their love for art under the same roof of the gallery.

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