Hugo Clarence Janody

The Institut’s artistic and cultural transmission programme combines critical, sensitive photographic review and practice, in projects open to a wide range of audiences. As part of a collaboration with the Department of Pas-de-Calais, the photographer Hugo Clarence Janody was invited to spend a week-long residency at the Centre d’Accueil et d’Examen des Situations de Nédonchel.

Photography, an everyday practice that serves to express our relationship to the world, is nearly non-existent at this shelter, which provides transitional accommodations for displaced persons who typically prefer to remain anonymous. The exhibit is a testament to the project’s inclusive approach, which made it possible to create these intimate portraits.

Postcards were first used to introduce participants to the notion of photography as a narrative medium, using a selection taken from the Fleury Delomez collection in the Pas-de-Calais Departmental Archives, depicting Thessaloniki – a city migrants often pass through – and the Nédonchel region.

An introduction to portrait photography was also offered using a Polaroid camera, which produces instant photographic prints, some of which participants chose to keep.

During his residency, Hugo Clarence Janody also took part in these individuals’ everyday lives. The slices of life documented in his images may seem simple and banal at first glance, but they nevertheless evoke the precariousness of their situations and the singular nature of their shared aspirations.