Deutsch
English
"'Homeland / Vladivostok' is the fruit of two series of photos, which tell us about here and elsewhere. 'Homeland' is here, even this greyness that is his own, or rather that he has made his own: 'My images are seeking to translate the things I appreciate here. Sometimes it’s just a feeling or a mood, or simply a landscape.'
Elsewhere is over there, but not Vladivostok, for he has never set foot there. Rather it is a personal journey or thoughts about a journey. 'Vladivostok' is the title he chose for this series of photos of the many countries he has visited, a word which, for him, best expresses ideas of distance and disorientation: “I always dreamed about it, its name, its music a symbol of my elsewhere.”
It is also a means, once again, of confusing the issues and of asking questions, of mixing images of here and elsewhere without attaching captions to them. It is a means of letting each spectator ask himself if his imagination recognises what he is looking at, and if what he is looking at corresponds to what he believes.
His photos can appear morose and sad, but he defends himself by talking instead about ambiguity. While still calling himself an optimist, he is constantly seeking new types of beauty in the dullness of his homeland and elsewhere. He likes melancholy and finds it enriching. Perhaps this is because, for him, nothing is simple. And he wants to cultivate this ambiguity, to make appearances lie, because for him this is too obvious. He talks about inventing his own world, based on humanity, sweetness, melancholy and beauty. A world he sees as ambiguous, which Olivier CORNIL likes." (© espace photographique)
About the photographer, Olivier CORNIL (*1976):
Olivier CORNIL lives at Braine-le-Comte, Belgium, working as a photographer and making some books with his hands. He went to China, has long toured with Girls in Hawaii and likes melancholy and Charleroi (which Stephan VANFLETEREN has portrayed in 2013).
CORNIL loves his country, without being patriotic and has never been at Vladivostok.
Other books:
'Glass ceiling' (2015)
French description only: Dans le travail qu’il mène depuis une dizaine d’années, il construit un univers personnel. Sa photographie est un mode d’expression, une manière de raconter des histoires. Fruit d’une envie qui se veut généreuse de donner au spectateur, de partager, de guider l’attention sur ce qui attire son regard. Il aime se qualifier d’anecdotier: personne qui recueille ou raconte des anecdotes. «Que ce soient des images ou des textes, ce sont de petites fenêtres que je décide d’isoler et qui expriment certaines choses qui me semblent intéressantes, mais qui ne le seront peut-être pas pour d’autres». Il dévoile en effet depuis peu des textes en parallèle avec ses images. Il propose un récit, il rapporte des histoires ancrées dans le réel, avec une volonté de laisser beaucoup de liberté dans la façon dont les gens vont les recevoir et créer le lien entre textes et images. Pas de légende, donc, plutôt une forme de journal qui serait une vision complémentaire.
«Mon idée, c’est qu’en mettant les images avec les textes, et les images les unes à côté des autres, les gens puissent aller voir plus loin que ce qui est représenté. La représentation en soi n’est pas pour moi ce qu’il y a de primordial dans l’image. Ce que les gens peuvent ressentir est certainement aussi important que ce qu’ils peuvent regarder».O.C
Elsewhere is over there, but not Vladivostok, for he has never set foot there. Rather it is a personal journey or thoughts about a journey. 'Vladivostok' is the title he chose for this series of photos of the many countries he has visited, a word which, for him, best expresses ideas of distance and disorientation: “I always dreamed about it, its name, its music a symbol of my elsewhere.”
It is also a means, once again, of confusing the issues and of asking questions, of mixing images of here and elsewhere without attaching captions to them. It is a means of letting each spectator ask himself if his imagination recognises what he is looking at, and if what he is looking at corresponds to what he believes.
His photos can appear morose and sad, but he defends himself by talking instead about ambiguity. While still calling himself an optimist, he is constantly seeking new types of beauty in the dullness of his homeland and elsewhere. He likes melancholy and finds it enriching. Perhaps this is because, for him, nothing is simple. And he wants to cultivate this ambiguity, to make appearances lie, because for him this is too obvious. He talks about inventing his own world, based on humanity, sweetness, melancholy and beauty. A world he sees as ambiguous, which Olivier CORNIL likes." (© espace photographique)
About the photographer, Olivier CORNIL (*1976):
Olivier CORNIL lives at Braine-le-Comte, Belgium, working as a photographer and making some books with his hands. He went to China, has long toured with Girls in Hawaii and likes melancholy and Charleroi (which Stephan VANFLETEREN has portrayed in 2013).
CORNIL loves his country, without being patriotic and has never been at Vladivostok.
Other books:
'Glass ceiling' (2015)
French description only: Dans le travail qu’il mène depuis une dizaine d’années, il construit un univers personnel. Sa photographie est un mode d’expression, une manière de raconter des histoires. Fruit d’une envie qui se veut généreuse de donner au spectateur, de partager, de guider l’attention sur ce qui attire son regard. Il aime se qualifier d’anecdotier: personne qui recueille ou raconte des anecdotes. «Que ce soient des images ou des textes, ce sont de petites fenêtres que je décide d’isoler et qui expriment certaines choses qui me semblent intéressantes, mais qui ne le seront peut-être pas pour d’autres». Il dévoile en effet depuis peu des textes en parallèle avec ses images. Il propose un récit, il rapporte des histoires ancrées dans le réel, avec une volonté de laisser beaucoup de liberté dans la façon dont les gens vont les recevoir et créer le lien entre textes et images. Pas de légende, donc, plutôt une forme de journal qui serait une vision complémentaire.
«Mon idée, c’est qu’en mettant les images avec les textes, et les images les unes à côté des autres, les gens puissent aller voir plus loin que ce qui est représenté. La représentation en soi n’est pas pour moi ce qu’il y a de primordial dans l’image. Ce que les gens peuvent ressentir est certainement aussi important que ce qu’ils peuvent regarder».O.C
- Format
- SC (no dust jacket, as issued), 16,5 x 21 cm., 160 pp., unpaginated, 120 color ills., French