After photographing Algeria in black and white and colour, and African cities in colour, Bruno Boudjelal continues on his photographic journey. 2003 is a year of representation, with a series of exhibitions featuring his trips back to Algeria.
It was a journey to trace his father’s and his family’s footsteps, to trace his part of Algeria’s history that really marked the beginning of Bruno Boudjelal’s photographic career. Ten years have passed since then (his first trip was in 1993), during which time his gaze and photographic techniques have evolved. His gaze has moved from the interior, from the reassuring world of his rediscovered family to an increasingly outwards-turning visual acuity urban Algeria, rural Algeria to the often-harsh reality of these people’s lives.
In his way of working, and maybe also in his choice of themes, some observers see the influence of Robert Franck and William Klein (New York, notably). Others sense the touch of Italian filmmaker, Antonioni.
Bruno Boudjelal confirms his admiration for these great names from the world of the image. However, successive trips to Algeria were just as formative the realities of Algerian life urged the photographer to use a technique that could be defined as « intuitive ». He uses little or no framing and does not look through the camera. His fingers feel and speak for him.
Previously, his photography was fairly descriptive, « journalistic » – black and white. Then the distance was gradually closed and colour took over.
These days, Bruno Boudjelal looks at his photographs with surprise, and often scepticism. And yet, they are capable of inciting very real emotion. They emanate a very real respect and tenderness for the Other.
Composition is also at the service of emotion in his exhibitions. Levels of reading are thus defined for the group of images. A story (seen from several angles) is told in Chroniques Algériennes d’un retour. The slide show provides further confirmation of this. It could almost be cinema!
In 2003 the powerful images produced during ten years of trips back to Algeria will be presented in several exhibitions at the Quartz in Brest (to 21 June) and at the Rencontres Internationales photographiques in Arles, where the slide show will be screened throughout the summer. In autumn, the Scène nationale in Valence and La Filature in Mulhouse will host the exhibition first held in Brest.
Despite this busy calendar, Boudjelal is already thinking about his next project on African cities south of the Sahara, which he particularly holds to heart. These sprawling cities, from Lagos, to Kinshasa, Johannesburg, Nairobi and Abidjan, are full of an energy, life and creativity that he has so far sensed but not yet seen. Trips to Niamey (Niger) and Bamako (Mali) have already enabled him to meet with people, confirming this idea. Images produced in these two cities have reinforced his desire to build a project based on this work.
After Algeria in black and white and colour, African cities in colour … Bruno Boudjelal is continuing his exploration of image and travel, to capture the (universal) essence of human kind regardless of place.
View his exhibition « Jours intranquilles : chroniques algériennes d’un retour (1993-2002) » on www.afriphoto.com
© Bruno Boudjelal/Agence Vu ///Article N° : 5702
