Erased (China 1999 – 2007) / Bertrand Meunier
 
This fabulous country has experienced the most unimaginable economic and social changes since the early 90s. Radical state reorganisation programs have not only led to growing inequalities, what with manual workers and second rate employees becoming more and more poor, but they have also uprooted much of the peasant population. The central and northern regions of China have become areas of widespread disaster. Individuals are increasingly resorting to violence as part of a somewhat inevitable struggle in order to survive, find work and lodging; a phenomenon which gives Meunier the shivers and a real pang: “This violence permanently underlies society and permeates the whole atmosphere”. These are the realities he transcribes in his photography – the open wounds, the frozen hardness in people’s eyes and the stigmas of pressures endured on a daily basis. And beyond a straightforward reading of his work, the information he brings us can be read on a deeper level as an interaction between personal emotions and the social landscape.
 
This work, which he started in 1999 is at the very core of Bertrand Meunier’s photographic commitment because it puts forth his interpretation of society, and his will to reveal the many facets of China which are not shown. “The choice of black and white photography came naturally”, he explains.
In his nuanced writing which ranges from shadowy greys to sooty blacks, the artist has achieved a perfect depiction of people’s savagery and fragility. He evokes in an unsettling manner the fine line between the real world – in which these new wanderers of urban No Man’s Lands live – and a world which is forever gone, hovering between as many illusions as there are disillusions.
Andreina De Bei
 
Oskar Barnack Prize 2001 – Niépce Prize 2007
 
Exhibitions :
2009 – Musée départemental de l’Ain / France
2009 – Galerie du Lac Gelé, Nîmes / France
2009 – Festival ImageSingulières, Sète / France
2008 – Musée de la photographie, Chalons-sur-Saône / France
 
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