Paolo Pellegrin, «Dies Irae»

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Dies Iræ (Day of Wrath) is the title of the Paolo Pellegrinretrospective at the Maison Européenne de la Photographie. The days of wrath depicted in these 200 photographs give the retrospective an apocalyptic feel.

Cambodia (1998), Kosovo (1999-2001), Iraq (2003), Darfur (2004), Palestine/West Bank (2002-2004), Hurricane Katrina (2005), the Tsunami (2005), Gaza (2005), Haiti (1995-2010), Afghanistan and Lebanon (2006), Iran (2009). The images are tragic, anger-inducing, even when the madness of men plays no part and only nature is to blame.

“My duty—my responsibility—is to create the archives of our collective memory,” says Pellegrin. Among the best to renew the teachings and principles of the 20th century photojournalistic tradition. Pellegrin considers photography to be, “a complex voice, deep and layered.” In an interview with Roberto Koch, he elaborates:
The photograph is also a document, and every time we take a photograph, we place ourselves directly in relationship with the story. The picture goes in and out, walking alongside history, and this ability to create documents seems to be a fundamental aspect of our work. This is important, basically the bottom-line of photojournalism. Without a doubt, the same photograph, or body of work, can tug at different strings, or as you said, can provoke different questions. I never start with the idea of saying something precise or definitive. If anything, I try to follow the thread of the dialogue of what I’m documenting.

This is first retrospective of Pellegrin’s work. It was organized by Alessandra Mauro and presented in 2011 at the Fondation Forma in Milan.

Bernard Perrine
Bernard.Perrine1@orange.fr

Exhibition

Paolo Pellegrin
Dies Iræ
Through June 17, 2012

Maison Européenne de la Photographie
5-7 rue de Fourcy
75004 Paris
+33 (0)1 44 78 75 00
Wednesday - Sunday

LINKS

http://www.mep-fr.org