beaux livres : photo, architecture, art

Shadow

Terrils d’Europe du Nord Slag Heaps of Northern Europe

Jean Attali / John Davies

John Davies, the renowned English landscape photographer, set up his camera in northern France, near Béthune. Landscapes of the mining basin, the slag heaps have altered the very structure of the territory, offering the photographer the opportunity to create variations on this geographical feature.

As is his custom, Davies captures in a wide shot what structures these landscapes, bear witness to a bygone industry. This perspective on the world of mining is not new for the photographer. Indeed, in the 1980s, John Davies photographed English mining landscapes, notably in Wales, a series that helped establish his considerable talent.

Thus, the book's structure revisits the photographer's career, juxtaposing nearly thirty years of work in Great Britain with his most recent work in France. It also contrasts two regions of two countries that mining has fundamentally transformed, and with which the reader will undoubtedly find many commonalities.

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Écarts

Thibaut Cuisset / Jean Attali

Thibaut Cuisset is one of the most important figures in the current revival of landscape photography in France. Invited to work on the city of Clermont-Ferrand, he chose to focus on the outskirts of this Auvergne conurbation. He followed the city's edges, those areas away from the city center, where, between housing and industrial zones, vistas begin to open onto the wild landscape of the Auvergne mountains and volcanic peaks. From areas with high concentrations of small houses to those where farms still operate, Thibaut Cuisset's photographic exploration reveals a territory, its diversity, and how nature shapes the character of a city.

The book is structured around geographical sections interspersed with full-page mountain photographs, these counterpoints of wild nature never far from the city. "Distances of Vision," to borrow the book's title.

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