UNDERLYING MESSAGES
FOUAD ELKOURY
La Sagesse du photographe
Editions de l'œil neuf, Paris 2004
Ecco ancora una volta, in poche settimane incontro il lavoro di Fouad Elkoury, questa volta una piccola mostra alla Maison Européenne de la Photographie, Le plus beau jour, più che una mostra di fotografia nel senso classico è una narrazione fatta per immagini, un racconto di giorni diversi.
Le immagini sono proiettate su tre schermi, accompagnate da testi dell'autore, da musica. Una sequenza di tempi diversi, frammenti di città diverse. Del suo ultimo libro ho già scritto nei giorni scorsi. Ora consiglio una raccolta dei suoi scritti.
As photographers, we take thousands of images, althought fewer than you would imagine, since, in the days of negative film, each image was precious and we didn't carry many rolls of film with us, not to mention that it was difficult to obtain them in certain regions. Nevertheless, from these thousands of photographs, or a given contact sheet, we pick out one, two, three or sometimes more.. An image is born. And like with any loved one we watch grow up we become attached to it. Gradually, each of these images takes on an existence of its own. It begins life getting noticed, then starts to respond to certain claims on it, and finally embarks on a journey through pubblications and exibitions.
Wherever it goes, it tells a story. Peraphs this is where its stregh lies.. Beyond its first most visible layer, the image often contains another, more secret one,which each viewer perceives in his or her own way.
The story of the image depends on these underlying messages. So, inevitably, when the image is associated with a text, it acquires a new meaning and, similarity, when it is paired with another image. It is this exercise - the play of associations and the multiple stories arising from it, which are sometimes far removed from the initial meaning of the image - that guided me in this scenography.
Wherever it goes, it tells a story. Peraphs this is where its stregh lies.. Beyond its first most visible layer, the image often contains another, more secret one,which each viewer perceives in his or her own way.
The story of the image depends on these underlying messages. So, inevitably, when the image is associated with a text, it acquires a new meaning and, similarity, when it is paired with another image. It is this exercise - the play of associations and the multiple stories arising from it, which are sometimes far removed from the initial meaning of the image - that guided me in this scenography.
Fouad Elkoury
