Science fiction and pictures: Jérémy De Backer’s profitable wager

Jérémy De Backer is 45 years previous from Lille. Alongside together with his foremost job within the medical area “to pay the payments and the fridge”, he has been a photographer for about ten years. When he goes out, he captures issues which are lovely, difficult, “or typically not lovely, however at the least difficult”. However Jérémy De Backer preferred to inform tales. What to do with these pictures of “Moroccan doorways and seashores within the mist”? Bringing readability and consistency to your art work will rapidly turn out to be important.

Then born in 2015: “Welcome to Earth”, “at the least in my head”. Jérémy wanted a gestation interval, not solely to actually construct the undertaking but in addition and above all, to offer beginning to it in public. It lasts nearly 5 years. “Whenever you’re not a skilled photographer like me, it is exhausting to imagine legitimacy. Then, there was the worry of being sad, of being judged, of being criticized. » Jérémy De Backer was proper to indicate his work. As a result of, along with being preferred by the general public, it’s being offered in France, quickly in Belgium and from the center of April 2024, in New York.

“Welcome to Earth”, a lifelong undertaking

The primary thought of ​​this intelligent undertaking is to combine his pursuits: nature and panorama pictures and science fiction, and add concepts about respect for the setting, with out being ethical . An extraterrestrial, futuristic setting that gives the look of being unreal to the “Terronaut”, his character in an astronaut go well with, alone on this planet, all the things is actual . No photoshop or synthetic intelligence for his pictures, however a number of preparation beforehand. “For each place I wish to go, I do a radical analysis: essentially the most appropriate time, accessibility, prices, length, and so forth. Regardless of all the things, there are nonetheless some unknowns, such because the climate, and we’ve got to take care of them. »

The teronaut is stateless, genderless, ageless however “he’s a person and that is what issues”. Within the costume of an astronaut, which isn’t “celebration garments or carnival shock”, no, the almost definitely mixture potential, the character is performed by his sister most frequently, but in addition family members, pals Typically. “It is not a service I can ask simply anybody to remain for greater than three hours in a heavy go well with, in excessive summer time or winter temperatures, with out transferring. »

“Pictures feeds my coronary heart and soul. » he trusts.

For the photographer, even when the teronaut is current in every image, “The actual topic of the sequence is the Earth”. It’s the duty of the place to place it in perspective, to embellish it, to discover it and to indicate the great thing about this planet, which welcomes us and offers us shelter. Jérémy questions our presence and our place on earth via pictures. “I actually needed to develop this connection between man and his habitat. »

“Welcome to Earth” is the primary chapter in a trilogy about the place folks dwell on Earth. The opposite two chapters take the viewers elsewhere however all the time with this hyperlink between man and his habitat.

And sooner or later?

Together with his job, Jérémy solely has a couple of weeks a yr to flee and transfer ahead with the undertaking. He prepares his journeys rigorously and there may be not a lot time, “from the start of the yr, I make a taking pictures schedule”. For this yr 2024, the excursions usually are not but set in stone, it’s hesitant: return to Iceland for the fifth time, to the USA or to Spain. The three locations are nonetheless nagging in his head however so long as you take into accout “it’s important to produce quite a bit in a short while. » After all, the price range and the supply of the mannequin are limitations to keep in mind as properly.

Sooner or later, he want to improve his workers and have an additional particular person to assist him carry gear and do backstage. Additionally, go extra usually and do his identical job, even when he is not likely contemplating it proper now. Query about price range.

The scenario might change very quickly. From the center of April 2024, Jérémy De Backer and his undertaking “Welcome to Earth” are offered in New York, on the Sofitel. “We undergo completely different states, we do not know immediately when our photos will find yourself in the USA. » On the opening, he was congratulated from all sides. He finds it exhausting to consider. A childhood dream is coming true. He remembers secretly hoping to sooner or later stroll round together with his personal printed pictures, underneath his arm, prepared to indicate off, just like the strangers he handed on the road… Immediately he’s is a prepared contract for the photographer Lille.

The exhibition “Welcome to Earth” is on view till June 15, 2024 on the Sofitel in New York. For these much less lucky than can journey to the USA, the undertaking will happen this summer time in Knokke (Belgium) and Paris – the dates are nonetheless unknown. The work of Jérémy De Backer, represented in the USA by GOartonline, could be discovered on a website and on Instagram.