Michel Campeau
Michel Campeau is one of those photographers who, in addition to creating their own images, have always been passionate about so-called “vernacular” photography, whether anonymous or family-based. He belongs to a generation of photographers that includes Martin Parr, Erik Kessel, Joachim Schmidt, and others, who, through their focus on these neglected images, have created a genre in their own right… For many years, Michel Campeau has been scouring the vastness of globalized image production for amateur and professional photographic prints to feed the various collections he has established.
Thus, darkrooms, which could be considered a kind of original cave of photography, have always been one of his most important collectibles, certainly because they help to reflect his own image, the self-portrait of a creator whose gaze was forged by the silver-based photography that appeared in the darkness of the darkroom, full of magic and substance, which the transition to digital photography has driven away.
From the hundreds of images he has collected, Michel Campeau has created a veritable encyclopedia in Gestes et rituels de la chambre noire (Gestures and Rituals of the Darkroom), spanning more than a century of photography, organized by theme, deconstructing the components of the darkroom: the enlarger, the timers, the lamps, the retouching, the traveling photographers…
The book masterfully plays with a montage of images and is interspersed with texts by the artist.
Gestes et rituels de la chambre noire, 22 x 27 cm, 244 pages, approximately 250 four-color reproductions, hardcover binding
Graphic design: Bruno Ricca and Michel Campeau
Co-published with MCÉ
