Thierry Clech

Homage to Jacques Tati. La Defense France 2013

Thierry Clech (b. 1965, France) works exclusively in black and white film. His photographs have been published in Le Figaro, Canal +, La Voix du Nord, Private Magazine (UK) and Photoworks Magazine (UK). He has also published two books in collaboration with the French novelists Philippe Jaenada and Bernard Chambaz. Thierry’s work has been exhibited in France and abroad at the National Library of Belarus, Voix off Arles and Galerie Nadar in Tourcoing, France. He is currently based in Paris.

About the Photograph:

“There was a time when I often photographed the business district of La Defense, near Paris. I’m fascinated by this place – a kind of universal nowhere. The series, in French, is titled Sans Défense. This means both that humans seem weak compared to the huge buildings and that the place is a utopia that exists only in our dreams or nightmares. To complete this series, I went back a few days last summer, wandering between towers and watching executives dressed in dark suits, waiting, at the end of the afternoon, for the time when all employees rush to the metro stations. After a day of shooting I noticed this merry-go-round, and this amazing vision of the wheelchair between the horse and carriage. I do not know if this picture is funny or sad, but I love the confusion with the wheelchair – which brings me moreover to Jacques Tati, who often used this type of gag in his films.”