Gregory Halpern in residency in France

2019
2020
Gregory Halpern, Exhibition view "Soleil cou coupé" ("Let the Sun Beheaded Be"), 2020
Gregory Halpern, Untitled, from the series "Let the Sun Beheaded Be", 2019, courtesy of the artist © Gregory Halpern
Gregory Halpern, Exhibition view "Soleil cou coupé" ("Let the Sun Beheaded Be"), 2020
Gregory Halpern, Untitled, from the series "Let the Sun Beheaded Be", 2019, courtesy of the artist © Gregory Halpern
Gregory Halpern, Exhibition view "Soleil cou coupé" ("Let the Sun Beheaded Be"), 2020
Gregory Halpern, Untitled, from the series "Let the Sun Beheaded Be", 2019, courtesy of the artist © Gregory Halpern
American photographer Gregory Halpern is the fourth laureate of the Immersion, a French-American Photography Commission programme. Halpern chose to undertake his residency in Guadeloupe, a French territory at once near to and distant from his home country, in order to take stock of the weight of history and its traces in the everyday environment. An exhibition featuring the work produced during this residency, ’Let the Sun Beheaded Be’ (‘Soleil cou coupé’ ), was presented in Paris and San Francisco, and has been accompanied by a publication.

After conducting extensive documentary research on the complex history of Guadeloupe, Gregory Halpern (1977, United States) is undertaking three stays on the island, whose location “between the two Americas and Europe” is a source of fascination for the photographer. Halpern borrows the title of his exhibition from Soleil cou coupé, a collection of poems by Martinican author Aimé Césaire (1913-2008) which acts as a guide for his work as it develops through his observations and encounters. Visiting the island largely on foot, Halpern pays close attention to his surroundings in an approach reminiscent of the deambulation of the surrealists. He photographs what he sees, marveling at the exuberance of nature, creating uniquely intense portraits and registering the traces of a turbulent history. In doing so, he infuses his images with an uncanniness of the kind that animated the work of André Breton (1896-1966).

The in situ project culminates in a series of images entitled ‘Let the Sun Beheaded Be’, was presented at the Fondation Henri Cartier-Bresson in Paris before travelling to the San Francisco Museum of Art (SFMOMA) in the United States. A bilingual monograph of the same name will be published by Aperture to accompany the two exhibitions. The catalogue will feature an essay by Clément Chéroux, head curator of photography at SFMOMA and the mentor of this fourth edition of the Immersion programme.

Since 2015, the Fondation d’entreprise Hermès has supported the production of new photographic work through Immersion, a French-American Photographic Commission, a programme which takes the form of alternating residencies in France and the United States. At the end of each edition of the programme, an exhibition and a publication allow the artist laureates to share the work produced during Immersion with the wider public.

Disciplines
Photography
Visual arts
France
Gregory Halpern chose to undertake his residency in Guadeloupe, a French territory at once near to and distant from his home country of the United States.
He photographs what he sees, marveling at the exuberance of nature, creating uniquely intense portraits and registering the traces of a turbulent history.
Gregory Halpern borrows the title of his exhibition, ’Let the Sun Beheaded Be’ from a collection of poems by Martinican author Aimé Césaire.

Information

  • Practical information

    Group exhibition "Immersion: Gregory Halpern, Raymond Meeks and Vasantha Yogananthan", at the International Center of Photography Museum (New-York), from 29 September 2023 to 8 January 2024

See also