Paris 2024 Games: the Depardons in large format throughout the capital

You may have already come across them on your daily path. In any case, it is impossible to miss them: 16 photographs by Raymond Depardon (born in 1942) and his son Simon (born in 1991) have appeared throughout Paris since June 24, printed on huge supports ranging from 200 to 1,000 m². Spread between the rue de Rivoli, the porte Brancion, the avenue de l’Opéra, and up to Montrouge and Saint-Denis, these will remain visible until September 24.

Their theme? Olympic Games Of course ! It must be said that Raymond Depardon, keen eye for 20th century photography^e century, has been following them for a long time. Tokyo in 1964, Mexico in 1968, Munich in 1972, Montreal in 1976… He was there, and even if he got into it a bit by chance, he stayed there, responding to the orders that were given to him. “It’s a very good exercise. It’s the opposite of a portrait or a landscape, the photographer explains to us on a corner of the table, on the day of the inauguration. I learned that way, to make people run fast, or jump… And “oh, shit, I failed”. And I came back, four years later, and I improved. »

A collection of images around the Olympic Games

“By rediscovering Raymond’s photos, we said to ourselves that we really had to present them to Parisians, and then to all those who will come. »

The result is a exciting image backgroundshis son Simon tells us: “When we rediscovered Raymond’s photos, we said to ourselves that we really had to present them to Parisians, and then to all those who will come.” When asked, the Paris city hall responded, offering the Depardons blind facades and buildings under construction, to exhibit eight historical photos. Simon, also a photographer, took the opportunity to tackle a pleasant task: “talking about the new generation”, by in turn making eight portraits of young athletes who will participate in the Paris 2024 Games.

An intergenerational collaboration

The young man also produced a series of short documentary filmsaccessible by QR code, which tell the context of each photograph taken by his father, using filmed images taken from the INA archives.

16 images are therefore to be discovered throughout the city (a map of the different locations is available online). The opportunity for a beautiful stroll, which “brings Paris back into a line of Olympics”, analyzes Simon, the capital thus appearing imbued with the memory of the Games once lived in other cities around the world.

He adds, referring to his portraits: “I am Parisian, so when I was told that I had to take photos in Paris, I fought to have places which are quite emblematic of Paris for me and which are not necessarily in the city center, like in Aubervilliers. The idea was to follow the athletes over a day, in their training places. (…) I tried to add in the photographs urban elements who do not only talk about gilding and the center, and about bringing the suburbs into Paris, and vice versa. »

A exposition XXLand yet which appears to us as one of the most touching events of these hyperactive Paris 2024 Games… Good to know: in Rennes, the Frac Bretagne is dedicating a hanging to Raymond Depardon and his body of photographs of the Olympic Games, on display until January 5, 2025!