EUROPEAN PUZZLE

“There is an economic, political, geographic or even footballing Europe. There is the Europe of Schengen, that of the common currency, that of the 28 countries of the European Union… As many different Europe (s). From Reykjavik to Istanbul, from Moscow to Lisbon, some borders crumble, others are born, some roads open, others close.

Our benchmarks are upset: is there still a Western Europe and an Eastern Europe? A Southern Europe around the Mediterranean and a Northern Europe associated with the Lutheran heritage? What remains of the Europe of the Enlightenment and of Mitteleuropa, which was its heart for a long time? […]

My photographs do not explain anything. They do not illustrate. They evoke. They tell a story, that of a generation that believed in the end of borders and the abandonment of nationalisms. A generation that has undoubtedly failed, too idealistic, too sensitive to symbols, too oblivious to everyday realities. At times of crisis and at times of topicality, I preferred the "long time". The one, more literary, of aimless journeys, improvised encounters, forgotten spaces and uncertain atmospheres. "

Jean-Christophe Béchet

Curator: Céline Duval
Scenography: Étienne Andréys

Born in 1964 in Marseille, Jean-Christophe Béchet lives and works since 1990 in Paris. He previously studied economics (Aix-en-Provence, 1982-1985), then photography (Arles, 1985-1988) before staying and traveling for two years in West Africa (1988-1990) Mixing black and white and color, film and digital, 24 × 36 and medium format, polaroids and photographic "accidents", Jean-Christophe Béchet searches for the "right tool" for each project, the one that will allow him to engage in a relevant dialogue. interpretation of reality and a photographic material. 

Heir to “street photography”, whether American, French or Japanese, he has chosen not to abandon the field of “subjective document”, associating reportage and landscape, portrait and architecture. Wary of series closed in on themselves, he seeks in each project to reveal a photographic specificity. His view of the world is constructed book by book, the space of the printed page being his “natural” field of expression. The place of man in the contemporary landscape, both urban and natural, is at the center of his concerns. He is currently pursuing work on major European, Asian and American cities and is developing several series in parallel on High Mountain territories.

His work has been shown in numerous exhibitions and in twenty books. He is represented by the gallery "Les Douches la Galerie" (Paris, 10th)