Nakayama

2002 - Photography (Photography)

170 x 170 cm

Pierre Gonnord

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Nakayama is part of a larger body of work by Pierre Gonnord focusing on the analysis and description of the lifestyles of urban youth in large Western cities. These images reflect on new canons of beauty, and the appearances and simulacra of fashion for a new generation. In particular, these works consider themes of androgyny, crossbreeding, and recycling. This project led Gonnord to Tokyo and Kyoto to research urban youth in contemporary Japan. This photograph considers the striking traits of youth culture in Japan, and the relationship that this generation of Japanese people have with tradition. This image is at once inspired by traditional Japanese iconography, while speaking to truly contemporary situations and appearances. Tracing the evolution of youth culture, Gonnord’s portrait attempts to identify a millennial Japanese aesthetic; a new version of “beautiful”. Gonnord notes that in his attempt to capture their likeness, the images he produces will never be anything other than his point of view; his version of a moment experienced.

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Pierre Gonnord is known for his large scale photographic portraits of people who inhabit the fringes of society. Drawing inspiration from masters of the portrait genre, Gonnord looks to marginalized, ostracized, and subversive communities as his subjects. A key aspect of Gonnord’s practice entails spending long periods of time with the people in such communities, among them coal miners, punks, immigrants, and gypsies, before distilling his experience into a portrait. Gonnord approaches his subject through a deeply compassionate lens, creates reverent images that elicit his sitters’ storied pasts. Similarly, Gonnord’s landscape work represents the desecrated, unearthly environments populated by outsiders, nomads, and those who exist off the grid. Gonnord’s work is a testament to the casualties—human and environmental—left behind by a quickly developing world.

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Colors:

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• identity.n.01
• aesthetic.n.01
• culture.n.01
• young_person.n.01
• urban.a.01