TOUT THAU TOUR
2012 - 2024
The book is available here
Tout Thau Tour is the story of a deep attachment to a territory, where Jean-Marc draws from his roots in the creation of a long-term photographic project. It marks the starting point of an exploration around the Thau lagoon, a point of anchorage on the shores of the Mediterranean.
STA TERRA
Ongoing project
In this journey across Sicily, I strive to establish an intimate dialogue with nature and the work of humanity, highlighting the marks left by time on the landscape. The ever-present Mediterranean light illuminates my path and my surroundings as I traverse this land, vibrant with culture and history.
I also incorporate the centuries-old traditions that shape Sicily's identity, adding an extra dimension to this documentary perspective. Every corner of this island evokes a memory, a story, an echo of the past, where the breath of traditions intertwines with the remnants of time.
THE MOTHER OF THE SEA
First, we find Medusa in the "ancient myth," referred to as Gorgons, monsters of the underworld. According to Hesiod, they were the three daughters of marine deities: Stheno, Euryale, and the most famous, Medusa, who was mortal, unlike her two sisters who knew neither death nor old age. Various representations of them can be found, including sculptures, mosaics, paintings, and ceramics, along the Mediterranean coasts, from the Bosphorus to the Black Sea.
Today, we talk about the proliferation of jellyfish across our oceans, with the primary consequence being overfishing. Jellyfish, having no predators, are free to proliferate. We also encounter chemical pollution, whether from untreated direct discharges or plastic pollution entering the sea today. In some fishing nets, it would not be surprising to find as many fish as various waste items and jellyfish in the future.
Climate change and ocean acidification, caused by the increase of CO2 in the atmosphere, further exacerbate the situation. Rising water temperatures favor their reproduction. The maritime economy threatens marine ecosystems, with boats continuing to be an ideal means for many species to move and proliferate. One such jellyfish, the North American Ctenophore, was introduced to the Black Sea. This species arrived in the ballast water and quickly established itself in the nutrient-rich waters of the Black Sea, leading to the collapse of fish stocks... The anchovy catch practically disappeared.
This work is the first part titled "The Mother of the Sea," conducted in the Black Sea and along the Bosphorus coast. The project took place from August to October 2015.
WETLAND
Ongoing project
The wetlands of Veneto, bathed by water and time, are landscapes where the soul of nature merges with the gentleness of the elements. Here, the land and water blend in a silent dance, creating ecosystems that are both fragile and majestic.
DISTRICT 68
District 68 is a story of family, of several generations, it's the story of a whole village...
In Istanbul, you've surely noticed the men who constantly roam with their little hand carts, going from one trash bin to another, collecting paper, plastics, metals... They are the ragpickers of Istanbul, an essential part of sorting and recycling in Turkey's largest city, with hundreds of ragpickers working in various depots throughout Istanbul.
District 68 is the origin of the ragpickers from the Kucuk Pazard (Little Bazaar) neighborhood in the European part of the city, as they all come from this district in central Anatolia, from a small village near the provincial capital Aksaray.
It was Sevinç who created this depot in 1990. Today, his sons, along with all the men in his family and their extended family, well, almost the entire village works in this depot.
It's a job that spans day and night; the men are in constant motion, with no set time for collecting plastic, cardboard, metal, and all sorts of recyclable materials.
With their carts, they traverse the neighborhood, taking about three hours to fill their bags with recyclable materials, and once they return to the depot, it's time for sorting and weighing the collected items. Then they head out again, often making two or three rounds a day. Depending on what they collect, they can earn between 20 to 50 euros a day.
District 68 is always on their minds while they are in Istanbul; they even write these numbers and this word on the walls of the neighborhood and the depot. They have left their wives and children for 2 to 3 months to earn as much money as possible at the depot. Then they return to the village for a month or two to reunite with their families and enjoy some leisure time while gradually renovating their homes...
CHINA THROUGH THE GAZE OF THE MOMENT
The moment, in the world of documentary photography, is often that fraction of a second where everything converges — movement, light, and the soul of a scene. It is the precise moment when the world, usually in perpetual flux, seems to pause, as if time itself is taking a break, offering a rare opportunity to capture what would otherwise be lost forever.
It is in the pursuit of this moment that the beauty of photography resides. The moment, for the photographer, is both a challenge and a grace. It is a battle against the flow of the world, a struggle to seize the ephemeral, but also an invitation to contemplation. Each shot is an attempt to make tangible what slips away, an effort to fix what is nothing more than an illusion, an apparition.
In contemporary China, where everything is transforming at a dizzying pace, the moment becomes even more precious. In this incessant flow of modernity and traditions clashing, the photographer's eye becomes a lens capable of capturing what slips away, fixing what seems to have no place in the rapid world around us. That moment, suspended within the frame of a photo, becomes an anchor in time, a way of saying, "This is what was, this is what is, and this is, in a certain way, what will remain."