We’ve seen a lot of images from Egypt of late as cameramen and photographers have sought the best angles to show crowds, revolt, politics, tanks, violence, anger, anticipation and joy.
Meanwhile, on the side streets and alleyways of Cairo and Alexandria, some of the surprising yet ordinary colors of the Egyptian night have gone unnoticed.
But they were there all along—the pastel greens, the magical blues, the luxuriant reds and the languid golden yellows, lit by street lamps and neon lights and bulbs in stairwells.
And they are now in Montmartre in an exhibition of the photographs by Thibault de Puyfontaine showing until March 27 at the Little Big Galerie.
Mr. de Puyfontaine’s night images look like dreamscapes but they are indeed real. His “Late Colors,” as he has entitled the series, are neither modified nor constructed but rather found, witnessed, perhaps awaited.
Mr. de Puyfontaine’s night are warm but not hot. His eye appears to be seeking an impassive idyll, far removed from raw emotion of the type we’ve witnessed on television these past few weeks.
Well lit by streetlamps or neon lights or bulbs in stairwells, there are few dark shadows in these scenes. The photographer’s framing is at times ominously silent yet one rarely senses danger or intrigue in these photographs. They are patient and nostalgic without melancholy. I am reminded in some of the images in the exhibition of timeless photographs of Montmartre at night, with Cairo’s green-red-blue in place of Paris’s yellow-gold-beige.
There are few people in these night images, yet the photographer is indeed examining the artifacts of the inhabitants: panels leaning against a wall, a fleeting view of a man by a pool table, a chair and an empty stand outside what might be a closed shop, handprints of blood from a sacrificed animal during the feast of Eid al-Adha (below). The photographer has muted the sounds of the city but I suspect that the inhabitants are still well awake and have simply gone inside for the night.
Born in 1980 in Clichy, a suburb of Paris, Thibault de Puyfontaine is just beginning to spread his wings as a photographer. Most of the photographs from “Late Colors” were taken over several years as he returned to Egypt for about one month every three months from 2007 to early 2010. During that time he became increasingly interested in photographing its cities by night.
Having discovered a passion for “Late Colors,” he now considers the work of the period represented in this exhibition as Chapter 1 of an international project to photograph cities at night. His most recent photo in the show was actually taken Mozambique. Below, he stands in front of that image, entitled “The Train of Blade Runner.”
Next stop, he says: Asia.
Late Colors by Thibault de Puyfontaine, Feb. 8 to March 27
Little Big Galerie, 45 rue Lepic, 18th arrondissement. http://www.littlebiggalerie.com/. Tel. 01 42 52 81 25. Open Tues.-Sun. 2:30pm-7:30pm, Sat. 11am-7:30pm. Little Big Galerie is exclusively devoted to photography. To continue the mood of colored alleys and discover a little-known piece of Montmartre, ask to visit the cul-de-sac behind the gallery.
(c) 2011, Gary Lee Kraut