March 17, 2020, noon: Paris deserted, Paris silent, Paris locked-down but Paris dazzling!

Photographs by Jean-Christophe Ballot

The lockdown has blocked the population in the private sphere.The photographer started shooting in April, three weeks after the start of the lockdown, and cessation of activities. Jean-Christophe Ballot’s urban landscapes then tell the other face of this “confinement” in Paris.

The corollary is that the public sphere has been emptied. This game of busy and emptiness was particularly astonished where normally the flow of people was the most important: that of cities.

Jean-Christophe Ballot’s urban landscapes then tell the other face of this lockdown.

To photograph the space of the city is to work on the void. But here the project is exacerbated: it is about report on the vacuum of the vacuum! The space is the street, the square with their reception functions for residents and traffic flows. The purpose is now to include in the image the empty sidewalk of pedestrians, the empty asphalt of vehicles. The frame is then a device which marks both the recognition of a known and identifiable place (most often emblematic of Paris) and its vision unusual, strange because bloodless of its inhabitants. The flesh is emptied of its blood.

The artist has chosen the radicality of light (with a few exceptions). ” Under the sun exactly. Not next door, not anywhere. Exactly under the sun” sings Serge Gainsbourg. The harsh light, often at its Zenith, without artifice means that “it was so”. He is the chronicler of a unique moment in the history of Paris.

Paris locked down is a photographic story that is addressed to all locked people who will thus discover the face of a surprising Paris in this historic time, suspended and silent …

Jean-Christophe Ballot was born and has always lived in Paris. He knows his city well, traveling it since always on a motorcycle. To make this portrait of Paris, he therefore made choices dictated by his knowledge of the city and by his experience of more than thirty years of photography of urban landscapes from cities to across the planet. In 2008, his personal exhibition at the European House of Photography was the compilation of works on fifteen cities around the world, from New York to Shanghai, from Berlin to Surabaya …

The photographer started shooting in April, three weeks after the start of the locked down, and cessation of activities. With the decrease in pollution the light permanent atmospheric veil had disappeared, and the atmosphere of Paris had found a unique transparency. This exceptional quality of light crosses his photographs.

Jean-Christophe Ballot was able to work thanks to a press certificate which served as an exemption traveling to present during police checks. He expresses all his recognition at ABACA press for this precious help.

In 2020, our gallery celebrates its fifteen years, fifteen years of artistic encounters, discovery and passion.

Relocate for two years in Luberon National Park, we appreciate it privileged place where nature is still preserved.

In the heart of the village of Beaumettes, a seventh centurey chapel offers our gallery a wonderful splace to exhibit since 2018 contemporary art shows.

Join us as from May at Chapel Sainte-Foy, an exhibition place where we will welcome you for a moment of artistic sharing.

Montée du Château,

84220 BEAUMETTES

(Facing “Calavon bicycle path”)

After the warm welcome received when exhibiting the artists of the show “Afreeca”n in Luberon, galerie Galea will expose its artists during the Contemporary Art fair St’art in Strasbourg, France from November 15h through 17th. Along the five artists who participate in “Afreeca” , the gallery will present two other artists, a new comer from Burkina Faso and a confirmed and well known artist Andries J. Botha.
These artists from the the African continent give a free artistic expression of their African identities.

Mamoudou Bolly, born in Burkina Faso, lives there after along journey in France. he uses recycled metal parts that he add to his paintings on canvas which depict naïve drawings of human and animals or animals that illustrate how a child looks at the world.

Andries J. Botha, Sud-African, lives in Durban. He founded The Human Elephant Foundation. The gallery present “Anissa Anima Mea”, a sculpture in wood on a metal base. This sculpture has been exhibited at Fondation Villa Datris from may to november 2019 within the show “Bêtes de scène”.

Siriky KY, born in Ivory Coast, lives in Burkina Faso. “The precious heads” Unique bronze pieces made entirely by the artist in his studio in Ouagadougou, 2018. These bronze works depict deformed heads of Griots who, in the West African tradition, are families that have orally transmitted knowledge from generation to generation. In the spirit of the peoples of these regions, the skulls, even after the death of the person, still contain knowledge and that is the reason why they are deformed by time but still visible because the bodies of the Griots are never buried.
Siriki Ky wanted to pay tribute to the ancestral traditions of his compatriots in a material, bronze, which crosses the time.
yanda Mabulu, South Africa, lives in Johannesburg. He has a satirical look at the governance of his country, the misfortunes, the abuses, with a strong, engaged style, a brush that denounces the packages of a system.

Nyaba Leon OUEDRAOGO, Burkinabé, lives in Paris, photographer. He delivers a narrative in pictures of the traditions and State of the current civilization of West African countries. The ghosts of the Congo River, the painted men of tribal painting, the Congolese youth in a green country.

Mamady Seydi, Senegalese, lives in Mbour. He gives a note of wisdom and humor to his sculptures, the animals of the jungle have replaced humans to give them a universal character. Each installation is the illustration of a Wolof proverb that translates the way of thinking of a Sage.

Dominique Zinkpè, Beninese, lives in Cotonou. It brings a personal view of the different continents. The mask in African statuary is a face of the actor, it conceals the truth. In his series of unmasked continents, Dominique delivers a staging of the clichés that symbolize the richness of the peoples of these continents.
“Ibedji in Nigeria, Hohô in Benin, Vénavi in Togo and Ghana. The word Ibedji sums up the cult of twins. If my work speaks about it, it’s because I was surprised that these 4 countries share the same cultural traditions.
In my work, the twins can become an airplane, a boat, the man of power, while respecting the sense of the Ibedji.
I was also interested in Ibedji because I am Agossou, which means “born upside down”. That’s what we call children born by the seat. Traditionally it is thought that children born in the siege are the elders of twins because they did not do the normal cycle of other children. They are categorized as heads of twins. ”
Excerpt from Dominique Zinkpe’s interview 2017 – Zinsou Foundation
This sculpture has been exhibited in a group show: Persona at the Museum of Central Africa in Tervuren, Belgium.