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Background information
One
of his last photo book projects Xavier Barral himself ha initiated are
the 'Des Oiseaux' (engl.: on Birds) series done by well known
intenational photographers. In this series, 'birds' photographs are
published in same sized monographical photo books. The different
photographers are showing birds, they photographed in their typical
style.A traveler-migrator, as he calls himself, Bernard PLOSSU has been travelling the world for years, capturing through his lens furtive moments where birds are caught in full flight forming huge clouds, standing alone in the middle of a body of water or gliding alone among the alpine peaks.
In India, Italy, Andalusia, Greece and France, Bernard PLOSSU steals fragments of the world. Alternating between urban scenes and majestic landscapes, the photographer's gaze on the birds is both tender and curious, a quality that is both dreamlike and 'surreal', as the critic Francesco Zanot has pointed out, in his images. Wherever he takes his camera, Bernard PLOSSU imposes one and the same rule on himself: sobriety, achieved with a 50 mm lens. 'It's my only style,' he says, 'which allows me to affirm that my style is not to make a style'.
Content
Bernard PLOSSU's birds in this photo volume, 'Des Oiseaux', sometimes seem very familiar, populating courtyards, country roofs or electric wires, others, with their wings spread, play with the rising winds that whistle at altitude and stir up the fascination and desire that men have always had to fly." (publisher's note, © Editions Xavier Barral, 2018)
Half traveler and half migratory photographer, as he likes to introduce
himself, Bernard PLOSSU strides along the world since many years.
Bernard PLOSSU captures through his lens furtive moments, where birds
are flying in huge swarms or caught alone, standing proudly in the
middle of a puddle, or gliding high up in the sky, among the peaks. The
photographer looks at birds with tenderness and curiosity, a gaze which
underlines fantasy and a 'surrealistic' approach, as explains the
critic Francesco Zanot about his images. The flight fascinates the
photographer, obsessed with the euphoric speed of swallows as well as
the hypnotic inertness of large raptors drifting through the wind at
high altitude. Bernard PLOSSU’s photographs allow us to see fragments of the
world, a world in which birds have reinvested our environment. The
essay by ornithologist Guilhem Lesaffre underlines a fundamental aspect
of bird life: migration as brought by Bernard PLOSSU's photographs to
light. This book, along with the one of Pentti SAMMALAHTI, launch our
collection 'Des oiseaux' (engl.: On birds) celebrating, through the
vision of different artists, their immense presence in a world where
they are now vulnerable." (publisher's note, © Éditions Barral, 2019)
Variant
Accompanying the release of the book 'Des Oiseaux' by Bernard PLOSSU, the publisher also offered a limited edition box set including a signed copy of the publication with a signed & numbered b/w gelatin silver print, 'Lac de Garde, Italie' (2006). Details: Limited edition box set, signed & numbered from 1 to 30. Print size: 20 x 25,5 cm.
The participating photographers at the 'Des Oiseaux' photo book project are
- ALBARRÀN CABRERA, Graciela ITURBIDE, Leila JEFFREYS, Michael KENNA, Byung-Hun MIN, Yoshinori MIZUTANI, Bernard PLOSSU, Pentti SAMMALLLAHTI, Terri WEIFENBACH, Rinko KAWAUCHI
Have a look at the volumes of these photographers
- Ed(s)/Author(s)
- Guilhem Lassafre
- Format
- Linen bound HC (no dust jacket, as issued), 20,5 x 26 x 2 cm., 108 pp., 54 b/w ills., text language: French - ONLY FRENCH TEXT!