Géraldine Lay
in Carleton-sur-Mer

In 2009, the Pôle Photographique Diaphane invited me to take part in the “Destinations Europe” project, and I chose to explore Glasgow. Fascinated by post-industrial regions ravaged by Thatcherism, I have returned to the northwest of the United Kingdom every year since. In 2015, as a winner of the Institut français’s “Hors les Murs” program, I set out to conclude this series. North End blends portraits and urban landscapes, capturing the scenery of old Europe in bursts of light and color.

Robert McLiam Wilson writes about North End: “I hate photographers more than I can tell you. I hate photographers so much that it keeps me warm at night. It improves my circulation and complexion. It lifts my mood. I hate photographers even more than I hate poets. I hate bad photographers and I hate mediocre photographers, but nothing compares to how passionately I hate good photographers. And because great photographers can do something I can’t do. Great photographers can tell a story I will never live long enough to write.

“Words can tell a story, but great pictures can show what a story is for and why we tell it. Photos show us the map of the human shape, our lives, our work, our places and pleasures. A great picture should be strange and familiar; it should feel like nothing you have seen and yet everything you have seen. A great picture is a mix of memory and prediction; the photographer is like your eyes, but your eyes wiser, kinder and deeper than you have known them heretofore.

“They show a Britain, instantly and superbly recognizable and yet rendered magical by her neutral, empathetic gaze. A place I know well yet have never seen.”

This exhibition is presented in collaboration with the Vaste et Vague artist center and with the financial support of the Consulate General of France in Québec City.