Guy Hersant
Encyclopedia
Biography
Born in Loire Atlantique (France), Guy Hersant entered apprenticeship at the age of sixteen and obtained his CAP in photography while working as an assistant for several photographers. He later opened his own studio in LorientLorient
Lorient, or L'Orient, is a commune and a seaport in the Morbihan department in Brittany in north-western France.-History:At the beginning of the 17th century, merchants who were trading with India had established warehouses in Port-Louis...
in 1975. There he concentrated on portraits and reporting until 1990.
He went to Africa for the first time in 1971, where he was an assistant in a studio run by a Frenchman in Bamako
Bamako
Bamako is the capital of Mali and its largest city with a population of 1.8 million . Currently, it is estimated to be the fastest growing city in Africa and sixth fastest in the world...
). It was the beginning of a personal photography, the revelation of the taste for traveling and the passion for Africa.
He co-founded the collective of Brittany
Brittany
Brittany is a cultural and administrative region in the north-west of France. Previously a kingdom and then a duchy, Brittany was united to the Kingdom of France in 1532 as a province. Brittany has also been referred to as Less, Lesser or Little Britain...
photographers "Sellit" in 1979. He created in 1982, and managed until 1989, the meetings of the photography in Brittany, then the gallery Le Lieu in Lorient. Afterward, Guy Hersant settled in Paris and photographed architecture. He travelled again in West Africa and made photographic series of the valleys of the river Niger.
He co-led the African Photography Encounters
African Photography Encounters
African Photography Encounters is a biennial exhibition in Bamako, Mali since 1994. The exhibition, featuring exhibits by contemporary African photographers, is spread over several Bamako cultural centers, including the National Museum, the National Library, the Modibo Keïta memorial, and the...
from 1994 until 2001. He has conducted research, wrote and published on the photography of studio and itinerant photographers in Africa, contributing to awareness of the works of these photographers.
In 1995, he began a series of photos of groups in the forest of Crécy (Somme
Somme
Somme is a department of France, located in the north of the country and named after the Somme river. It is part of the Picardy region of France....
, France) which began the spirit of the project Please do not move! that began in Kano
Kano
Kano is a city in Nigeria and the capital of Kano State in Northern Nigeria. Its metropolitan population is the second largest in Nigeria after Lagos. The Kano Urban area covers 137 sq.km and comprises six Local Government Area - Kano Municipal, Fagge, Dala, Gwale, Tarauni and Nassarawa - with a...
(Nigeria) on the instigation of the Alliance française
Alliance française
The Alliance française , or AF, is an international organisation that aims to promote French language and culture around the world. created in Paris on 21 July 1883, its primary concern is teaching French as a second language and is headquartered in Paris -History:The Alliance was created in Paris...
of this city in 2000. The project was to develop in the following years in France in Amiens
Amiens
Amiens is a city and commune in northern France, north of Paris and south-west of Lille. It is the capital of the Somme department in Picardy...
, Le Touquet, Mulhouse
Mulhouse
Mulhouse |mill]] hamlet) is a city and commune in eastern France, close to the Swiss and German borders. With a population of 110,514 and 278,206 inhabitants in the metropolitan area in 2006, it is the largest city in the Haut-Rhin département, and the second largest in the Alsace region after...
; in Libreville
Libreville
Libreville is the capital and largest city of Gabon, in west central Africa. The city is a port on the Komo River, near the Gulf of Guinea, and a trade center for a timber region. As of 2005, it has a population of 578,156.- History :...
(Gabon), Gao
Gao
Gao is a town in eastern Mali on the River Niger lying ESE of Timbuktu. Situated on the left bank of the river at the junction with the Tilemsi valley, it is the capital of the Gao Region and had a population of 86,663 in 2009....
(Mali), and in January, 2010 in association with Jean-Michel Rousset and Eric Adjetey Anang
Eric Adjetey Anang
Eric Adjetey Anang is a Ghanaian sculptor born in Teshie, Ghana, where he lives and works.-Biography:In 2001, he introduced Ghana design coffins at Gidan Makama Museum Kano, Nigeria, under the auspices of Alliance française in Kano....
in Teshie
Teshie
Teshie is a city in Ghana in the Greater Accra Region. Fort Augustaborg, built by the Danes in 1787, is located in Teshie and was occupied by the British from 1850 to 1957. The national Officer Cadet Training School and Kofi Annan International Peacekeeping Training Centre are also located here...
(Ghana
Ghana
Ghana , officially the Republic of Ghana, is a country located in West Africa. It is bordered by Côte d'Ivoire to the west, Burkina Faso to the north, Togo to the east, and the Gulf of Guinea to the south...
). It is this work which confirmed the vision, at the same time documentary and human, which crossed the whole work of the photographer.
Expositions
- Nature humaine. Musée de l’Hospice Saint-Roch – Issoudun . October 2007 - April 2008
- Portraits au Gabon. Festival « Les photographiques » - Le Mans . February 2008
- Les hommes sont des acteurs… Théâtre La Passerelle, Scène nationale – Gap . October - December 2007
- Portraits de groupe. Château de Suze-la-Rousse – Drôme . September - December 2007
- J’ai trouvé l’eau si belle. Festival Photo Nature & Paysage – La Gacilly . June–September 2006
- (travail). La Filature, Scène nationale – Mulhouse . January–March 2006
- Please do not move!. Alliance française de Kano (Nigeria) – octobre 2005 ; Université Rennes2 . April-June2006
- Afica-urbis – exposition collective. Musée des Arts Derniers, Paris - May–September 2005
- Tout le monde. Musée du Touquet (Pas de Calais) - March–June 2005
- Kan be soni. (Avec G.Clariana, Th.Corroyer, O.Dumbia, M.Sanogo, S.M.Sidibé), École Supérieure d’Art et de design, Amiens, avril 2002; Institut national des arts Bamako (Mali), October 2001
- Les routes du fleuve. La Bibliothèque - Saint-Herblain, 1999; Université de Picardie, Amiens, September 2001
- Un itinéraire africain : 1971-2000. Aubenas - July 2001
- In LagosLagosLagos is a port and the most populous conurbation in Nigeria. With a population of 7,937,932, it is currently the third most populous city in Africa after Cairo and Kinshasa, and currently estimated to be the second fastest growing city in Africa...
. Galerie Auteurs, Paris 14e, March 2000 ; Alliance française de Lagos (Nigeria) - November 2000 - Harar. Musée Rimbaud, Charleville-Mézières - November 1999-February 2000
- Champs, agriculture dans l’Aisne. Maison des Arts Laon, June–September 1999
- La photographie à Grignan, Grignan, 1995
- L’Africaine. Rencontres Photographiques en Bretagne, Lorient, 1991 ; Carré Amelot, La Rochelle, 1993 ; l’Atelier, Paris, 1993
- Vigo VI. Commande Ville de Vigo, 2e Fotobienal, Vigo, (Spain) 1986
- Itinérance. Galerie nationale, Dakar (Senegal) 1984
- Vous avez dit rural ? (avec M. Massi, H. Bramberger, M. Garanger), B.P.I. du Centre Pompidou, Paris, 1983
- Voyages à Ouessant. Musée des Arts décoratifs, Nantes, 1979
- Vu en Chine. (avec F. Huguier, F. Lochon, F. Saur), B.P.I. du Centre Pompidou, Paris, 1979
Editions
- Nature humaine. 40 colour photographies, text Pascal Mougin . Editions du Musée de l’Hospice Saint–Roch. Issoudun 2007
- Tout le monde. 45 colour photographies, comments by Laurence Perrigault, Editions Filigranes 2005
- Please do not move ! in Kano. 23 colour photographies, poems by Sam CambioSam CambioSam Cambio is a reporter and an author born in 1946 in Marseille.-Biography:Self-taught, " son of himself ", he arose from unknown father and was abandoned by his mother at the age of three. He was raised by his grandparents of Italian origin, Rose and Félix Bellocchia in the countryside of...
, Editions Filigranes, 2005. - Harar. 19 black & white photographies, text by Bernard NoëlBernard NoëlBernard Noël is a French writer and poet. He received the Grand Prix national de la poésie in 1992 and the Prix Robert Ganzo in 2010....
, Editions Filigranes, 1999. - Champs. 65 colour and black & white photographies, text by Guy Marival, preface Bernard Noël, Editions Filigranes, 1999.
- L’Africaine. 13 black & white photographies, text by Ch. Jacob . Editions Filigranes 1993
- La Chine quotidienne. 70 black & white photographies, text by R. Trottignon, preface E. Manac’h, Editions Leoreca, 1979.
Films
- Guragu, DVD movie on street disabled people in Lagos (Nigeria). 18 minutes, July 2001
- Photographes guinéens, video, 8 minutes 30 seconds, Maison européenne de la photographieMaison européenne de la photographieThe Maison Européenne de la Photographie, situated in the historic heart of Paris, is a major centre for contemporary photographic art. Since February 1996 it has housed an exhibition centre, a large library, an auditorium, and a video viewing facility with a wide selection of films...
, 1994.
Public collections
- FRAC Bretagne, Rennes
- Galerie Le Lieu, Lorient
- Bibliothèque nationale de France, Paris
- Bibliothèque de Documentation Internationale Contemporaine, Paris
- Bibliothèque Historique de la Ville de Paris, Paris
- Le Ring – artothèque, Nantes
- Musée de Bretagne, Rennes
Published texts and conversations
- Le Photographe doit être gai Malick Sidibé, Editions Filigranes and Afriphoto, 2005.
- AFRICA URBIS O.Sultan, catalogue, Editions Sepia - 2005
- Studio Malick, Catalogue Les Afriques, Editions Autrement, Paris, 2004.
- Preface for Photographes ambulants, Editions Filigranes et Afriphoto, 2004.
- Preface for Gabriel Fasunon, Editions Filigranes and Afriphoto, 2004.
- A vignette from Lomé : the street photographers’blues, Visual Anthropology, Photographies and modernities in Africa volume XIV, number 3, Harwood publishers academic, 2001
- Interview of Emma Sudour, for "Voir" les photographies, n°9, February 2001
- Lomé, le blues des photographes ambulants, Africultures, July 2001
- Au temps de Sékou Touré ; Portraits peints d’Addis Ababa, in Anthologie de la photographie africaine, Editions Revue Noire, Paris, 1998, Prix Nadar 1999.
- Anthologie de la photographie africaine, Editions Revue Noire, 1998
- Entretien avec Brigitte Ollier, LibérationLibérationLibération is a French daily newspaper founded in Paris by Jean-Paul Sartre and Serge July in 1973 in the wake of the protest movements of May 1968. Originally a leftist newspaper, it has undergone a number of shifts during the 1980s and 1990s...
, 17 October 1997 - 36 ans de photographies en Guinée, Le Photographe, December 1994 – January 1995
- Images de Conakry, Jeune AfriqueJeune AfriqueJeune Afrique is a weekly newsmagazine published in Paris, founded in Tunis by Béchir Ben Yahmed on October 17, 1960. It covers the political, economic and cultural spheres of Africa, with an emphasis on Francophone Africa and the Maghreb....
, September 1994
Workshops
- Workshop with the students of Collège Alan Seeger, Vailly-sur-Aisne 2007 /2008
- Workshop in Ecole des Beaux-Arts «Le Quai », Mulhouse – December 2005
- Intervention on architecture and urban landscapes photography at Ecole des Beaux-arts de Paris – February 2004 – October 2004
- Artistice residence in Le Touquet : one week workshop with adolescents – February 2004
- Les photographes ambulants au Togo, Bénin, Ghana et Nigeria, supported by Afrique en Créations / AFAA, 20 September to 16 November 1999
- Autour de la Bibliothèque de France, with students in second year at Ecole Nationale Supérieure des Arts Décoratifs de Paris, 1993-1994.
- Photographies négociées at Club Méditerranée of Cefalu (Sicilia), 1985.
Curator of exhibitions
2004- Malick SidibéMalick SidibéMalick Sidibé is Malian photographer noted for his black-and-white studies of popular culture in the 1960s in Bamako. He was born in Soloba, Mali and completed his studies in design and jewelry in the École des Artisans Soudanais in Bamako...
and other photographers from Mali : Vive la COPHOTEX, la Filature, Ecole des Beaux-arts, Le Quai and Musée d’Impression sur Etoffe in Mulhouse.
2001
- Les photographes ambulants au Ghana, Nigeria, Togo et Benin.
- Gabriel Fasunon photographe de studio au Nigeria.
- Artistic direction and co-ordination of KAN BE SONI with photographers from Mali and France. Amiens.
1998
- Boxing Ghana. photographies from the archives of Ghanaian Ministry of Information on boxing, a mythic sport in Ghana during the 60s and 70s, and on the boxing studios in Accra by Francis Provençal, a young Ghanaian photographer.
1996
- Photographes ambulants in Addis AbabaAddis AbabaAddis Ababa is the capital city of Ethiopia...
( Ethiopia). - Portraits de studio coloriés in Addis Ababa.
- Les photographes de presse à NairobiNairobiNairobi is the capital and largest city of Kenya. The city and its surrounding area also forms the Nairobi County. The name "Nairobi" comes from the Maasai phrase Enkare Nyirobi, which translates to "the place of cool waters". However, it is popularly known as the "Green City in the Sun" and is...
(Kenya).
1994
- Syli Photo: Sékou Touré photo service in the first years of Guinea independence.
External links
- http://www.purpose.fr/purpose3.html
- http://www.africultures.com/index.asp?menu=affiche_article&no=7653
- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xytav6DGUyw
- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rx2HwPzNF6o