The Strange case of Nauru - exhibition

I was recently in France for the opening of my exhibition on Nauru. 46 images and 2 videos are exhibited outdoor at the Festival Photo de Mer, from April 8th until May 8th. Other exhibitions includes stories from Ed Kashi and Chris Maluszynski.

Thanks to a grant from the Festival Photo de Mer, I spent 11 days on Nauru, the world's smallest Republic, far off in the middle of the Pacific. To turn it into a "real" story I teamed up with Geo Magazine (the German edition) staff-writer Markus Wolff. Story will soon come out in Germany.

Nauru has long been on my mind. I first heard about it in late 2001, when Afghan refugees were held in a detention center on the island. I couldn't put these 2 facts together in my head. After some research, they were so many curiously fascinating facts about the island that I just needed to go. It seemed a unique case of middle of nowhere yet middle of everything.

Here is a translation of my synopsis that got me the grant (© Matthieu Paley) :

"Nauru, an island of barely 21 km2, is located in the middle of the Pacific. It is the world’s smallest republic.
Its soil, extremely rich in phosphate, has been exploited since the beginning of the 20th century. The rapid value increase of the phosphate, followed by independence, makes Nauru the richest country in the world at the beginning of the 70’s.
As a result, falling for the temptations of uncontrolled consumerism, the Nauruans considerably change their way of life. Diabetes and the highest obesity level on the planet are some side effects of these excessive years.
End of the 90’s: the Phosphate resources diminish considerably.

Looking for financial solutions, Nauru becomes a tax-free zone, and with this a facilitator for money laundering businesses of the Russian mafia. The government also opens a detention center for Afghan and Iraqi refugees, all paid for by the Australian government...

In 2004, the state goes bankrupt. The government of Nauru decides at last to reactivate its phosphate mining. Official sources estimate that there are between 20 and 30 years left for further exploitation. The Nauruans, an isolated people, continues to look for solutions, keeping all the while their joyful island spirit.

We go to meet these men and women of Nauru, their president, a former weightlifting champion; Gerard Jones, a personal trainer and bird hunter; Lucia, the oldest lady of the country and Scarlet Lucy, the cargo ship that brings goods to the island every 2 months."

Two preview shots, the full story will soon be up on my website.

 

 

Lucia dances in her living room “I dance a lot, I pray to the Lord and I play Bingo!”. 85 years old, she is the oldest woman of the country, and the last person to have known deportation, in 1943, during the Second World War. 1200 Nauruans were then sent on the Chuuk island by the Japanese forces, and endured forced labor. Only 737 came back in 1945.  

  

It takes 6 hours flight from Bisbane in Australia to reach Nauru, an island state of barely 21 km2, located in the middle of the Pacific, 42 km from the equator. It is the world’s smallest republic, with less than 10.000 inhabitants. Twenty minutes of driving (19 km) will bring you around the whole country… 

Exhibition in Paris - Exposition à Paris

I will be part of a group exhibition at the Galerie de l'Instant , 46 Rue de Poitou, from 11 March until 11 May, here is the flyer. Unfortunately I won't be able to attend, as I am in Istanbul!

 

Matthieu Paley holding a lecture and film screening at the Royal Geographical Society.

Here it is! Extract from the RGS website or you can see it here.

THE ROYAL GEOGRAPHICAL SOCIETY – HONG KONG

presents

“The High Pamirs: the Roof of the World”

by

Matthieu Paley

on

Tuesday, 22 June 2010

1F, Duke of Windsor Building,

15 Hennessy Road, Hong Kong

(please note that this building is in a convenient location, about 5 minutes from Admiralty MTR or Pacific Place, next to the HK Police HQ)

6.30pm Drinks Reception; 7.30 pm Lecture

                                                   

We are delighted to welcome Matthieu Paley to lecture at the Royal Geographical Society on “The High Pamirs: the Roof of the World”.  Mr Paley lectures on his work as a photographer in the Afghan Pamirs and its neighbours Tajikistan, Pakistan and China, as well as the history, geographical and geopolitical situation of these countries.  

Mr Paley has resided in Hong Kong since 2002, but spends much of his time in the most remote and often highest altitude corners of Asia, as an intrepid explorer and award-winning photographer. Since first arriving in Asia in 1999, he has spent over four years living, exploring and photographing the remote mountainous regions of Pakistan, Afghanistan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan. 

Following into the footsteps of explorers such as Sir Francis Younghusband and John Woods, Matthieu Paley explores these regions to seek a better understanding of their remote lands and people. During his time travelling, he has immersed himself in the culture and language of the indigenous tribal peoples of these regions, and is conversant in Wakhi, Tajik and Urdu.  By returning repeatedly to these remote regions and, over time, building friendships and trust with nomadic and indigenous communities isolated from the outside world, Mr Paley has been able to take unique photographs captured with the sensitivity of an accepted insider.   

Following the lecture, Mr Paley is going to show his multimedia documentary "Forgotten on the Roof of the World", which was recently screened at the Telluride Mountain Film Festival in Colorado.  It tells the story of a little-known tribe of Kirghiz nomads in one of earth’s most remote regions, Afghanistan’s High Pamirs mountains. Leading the viewer through this people's stories of struggle, opium addiction and survival, Mr Paley and American anthropologist Ted Callahan tell the story of the film in word and image. Their documentation covers the tribe’ s unique barter trade with a small community in Pakistan as well as their routines and traditions in Afghanistan. 

A frequent speaker on the lecture circuit in Asia and at Festivals in Europe and Asia, Mr Paley’s work has been published widely in numerous publications including GEO, National Geographic Adventure, Time, Outside, Discovery, Vanity Fair, Le Figaro and Le Monde, among others.  Mr Paley's work has been exhibited at galleries in France, New York and Munich as well as at the Perpignan Photojournalism Fair. 

Members and their guests are most welcome to attend this lecture, which is HK$100 for Members, and HK$150 for Members' guests and others.  Location:  http://www.hkcss.org.hk/image/map/HKCSS-map.jpg

GPO Box 6681, Hong Kong

Tel: (852) 2583 9700

Fax: (852) 2140 6000

Email: events@rgshk.org.hk

Website: www.rgshk.org.hk 

Some pictures of the exhibition: "An Ethereal World" - up until June 19th.

Here it is before I fly off to Djibouti until June 15th. As South China Morning Post suggested, we had about 300 people that came through during the opening, on May 18th.

I just held 2 private viewing on May 25th, and we will have an open day at the gallery on Saturday June 19th, where I will be present all day. If anyone wants to have a chat and listen to more stories, please come!

Today's South China Morning Post, about my ongoing exhibition...

Exhibition's opening was a great success, with over 200 people that came through on May 18th - a great birthday gift! But more about this later, with pictures etc...

Here is an article that just came out today in South China Morning post, before the day is gone...:
__________

Exhibition: An Ethereal World: Journeys to the Edges of Asia - Picture This Gallery, Until Jun 12th 2010

© Yvonne Teh
May 20, 2010

Matthieu Paley has literally come a long way since working in a provincial town in the north of France "where, if you were a photographer, you'd be working on the main street doing portraits for ID cards". He spent some years in Jakarta and New York before moving to Hong Kong in 2002.

Currently based in Shek O, the Frenchman - who celebrated his 37th birthday two days ago, the same day his exhibition at Picture This Gallery opened - has travelled to, and worked in, several parts of Asia, including remote regions such as the Pamir Knot, the name given to a mountainous area where Pakistan, Afghanistan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and China meet.

An Ethereal World: Journeys to the Edges of Asia, which is part of this year's Le French May, consists of 17 photographs taken in a part of the world Paley first visited in 1999 after a conversation with a Pakistani man in New York.

"I was so ignorant then," Paley recalls, adding he wasn't even aware there were mountains in the country. But after his first visit to the region,  "I got hooked. I have been back there every year ever since."

Paley and his German wife Mareile spent time in a secluded lake village in the Baltistan region of northern Pakistan. "One day we went there and the water was low and my wife was just walking there and I took a picture and that's it, you know? It's a great memory for me when I look at it," the photographer-explorer says of Kachura (picture below).

Another, more famous body of water, Siberia's Lake Baikal, is the setting for other works in the exhibition. The dark blue water in Ice Rider hints at how deep the voluminous freshwater lake is (more than 1,600 metres) and how clear it is. That the ice on the lake is up to 1.5 metres thick and able to support a horse and rider is a sign of how cold and long the winters are. While most people stay away from Siberia in winter, that's when Paley prefers to visit.

"In winter, things slow down and I think that, as a photographer, when things slow down, it gives me more time to see things, to capture them," he says. For another, "I love wintry conditions because it brings [out] something special in people to be able to live in these harsh conditions".

One of them is Marbet, a young Afghan Kyrgyz girl, who thinks nothing of being out in temperatures of minus 30 degrees Celsius. Paley photographed the red-cheeked girl soon after she came in from the cold, where she had been tending her father's goats. "[Marbet] dropped one of the tiny goats by the fire. And I said, 'Just sit there,' and she sat there, and she looked like this and I took her picture."

Mon-Sat, PictureThis Gallery, 11am-6pm, Suite 1308, 13/F Office Tower, 9 Queen's Road Central. Inquiries: 2525 2820

Exhibition opening on Tuesday May 18th, 6-9pm, PictureThis Gallery

Almost there! My exhibition will open up next Tuesday May 18th. Here you can see the invitation to the opening of my exhibition.  This is supported by the French May, see it here.
And below, extracts from the invitation.

Hope to see you there!
_________________

MATTHIEU PALEY

An Ethereal World - Journeys to the edges of Asia

Opening reception with the photographer  -  Tuesday 18th May, 6 - 9pm
Picture This Gallery, 13th Floor, 9 Queen's Road Central, HK
At 7pm, Matthieu Paley will make a short presentation about his works
~~~
The Exhibition continues until Saturday, 12th June 2010
________________________________________________________________________________________

Biography:

Living in Hong Kong since 2002, but spending much of his time in the most remote and often highest altitude corners of Asia, Matthieu Paley is an intrepid explorer and award winning photographer. This exhibition comprises 17 photographs taken since 1999 in Afghanistan,Tajikistan, Pakistan and Siberia, shot with a mix of medium format and 35mm film. Paley's work is not easily or simply acquired. Most of these photographs are taken in the depths of winter when the environment is at its most harsh and inhospitable and temperatures drop to 30 below zero, providing the best light and working conditions for Paley's ethereal and inspiring photographs.

Paley's work has been exhibited at galleries in France, New York and Munich as well as at the Perpignan Photojournalism Festival, Visa Pour L'Image and the Banff Mountain Festival, where he won the 2009 Mountain Culture Photography Competition.

In exhibition mode...

If you decide not to just throw some pretty pictures on a wall, there is a lot of work behind an exhibition... I have been at it for a couple of weeks now and it's seriously picking up in this last week. After an initial large selection, we edited down to 17 images, keeping to a theme - in that case, as the title of the exhibition explains clearly "An ethereal world". We did a lay out with small prints, spreading them on a table to get a visual feel. Then we need to discuss sizes, keeping in mind the gallery space, already running editions etc. We created maquette of the gallery space with the images on the walls, to get a better feel.

Parallel to this, we are working on an exhibition catalog, with artist's statement, interesting captions, titles etc. Meanwhile I have drum scanned all the images, got myself an SSD drive to allow my computer to handle 1.5 GB files, brought them to my fine art printer. We looked at the files and started working on them. Today I will visit him to apply the final crops and resizing them for the catalog. We will also decide which paper we finally use.

In between, I have been interviewed by various magazine on this exhibition: it already did get quite a lot of press via the French May. The media release is due out next week. We will do an A0 contact sheet next week with the images and, no doubt, there will be some more retouching involved after that. Then comes the first final prints and then start of mounting and framing.

The team at PictureThis Gallery have been very efficient and productive, so the whole process has been a real pleasure. Looks good and I am indeed very excited! Official opening will be on May 18th, detail to follow!

Planning an exhibition...

My computer is fuming. It has been handling 2 GB files as I am scanning and retouching for my upcoming solo exhibition here in Hong Kong. It is supported by the French May, who joined in at the last minute following a impromptu meeting with the people at the Alliance Francaise.

The venue will be the PictureThis Gallery, on 9 Queen's road. This gallery recently exhibited Michael Yamashita's work. Here it is, up on the French May website. In due time, I will let you all know about the opening's date etc as it has changed (it will be up on PictureThis website early next month).

And for the German speakers, something else on the web that I just found that's quite interesting, talking about how Geo Magazine and I eventually came about to do that winter Kyrgyz story in Afghanistan. Article translates to  "How we came about to do "The Forgotten". There is a picture of me holding 10 Kg of opium. We were at a Afghan dealer's house up in the High Pamir. I promise, I did not consume, too terrible of a drug. There is my buddy Ted Callahan also, the anthropologist who lived up there. For those of you who did not see the 5mn trailer of the movie (using stills...) that resulted from this assignment, here it is.

I am off to Philippines for 2 days, a worldwide book project where some 100 photographers will contribute. More when I am back!

Too many projects...

I know I haven't been good on the blog front... But for good reason: I was buzzing with interesting projects.

- First, I have sold few prints recently to collectors and privates and the production has kept me busy. The fact that (finally!) a fine art printer established himself here in Hong Kong, allows me to offer high end Archival Prints, museum quality, on various support right at home. The images are printed on Hahnemuhle paper. The photo rag paper (100 % cotton, using pigment ink) gives incredible deep blacks and, to my big surprise - following up on a client's request - the canvas prints (pigment ink, UV coated) look... amazing! The matte effect on canvas is far from my previous experiences on canvas which looked like cheap promotional banner. The large canvas print look like what this medium is intended to look like: a painting.

I have started 3 limited editions:
- the Bus Serie (from Dushanbe, Tajikistan), 160 cm x 23 cm, edition of 30.


- the Ice Rider (from Siberia), 120 cm x 106 cm, edition of 30.
- the Horse Eye (from Siberia), 120 cm x 106 cm, edition of 30.

This is how the 2 canvas prints look like, once hanged and stretched on wooden frames:


- Secondly, following up on more print requests, I went through most of my images to work on a presentation PDF of all my gallery "worthy" images - those images that could go up on a wall for a long time before you get bored of it, those that would look great in very large format. It was at times hard to edit but a very exciting way to look at all my images. Thinking of potential triptychs, or 2 images that would talk to each other, etc.
Titled "Edges of Asia", it's almost finished and I will be sure to put up some excerpts here.

- Thirdly, I finished, (or is it ever finished...), our Pamir movie, retracing my story to Afghanistan's high Pamir and the peculiar story of the Afghan Kyrgyz. It's 28mn and I will be putting it up on my multimedia website link soon. Down the road, we plan to send it around to mountain film festivals around the world.
Here is a screen grab of the title...

La Gacilly photo festival, France

The biggest outdoor photo festival in France - http://www.festivalphoto-lagacilly.com/ - over 200.000 expected visitors.
I am showing my story on the Afghan Kyrgyz. Here a couple of snapshots from "my section", it will be up until mid-September 09.