Amaury da Cunha

‘Saccades’

‘Often, when I take photographs, I behave like a petty thief myself, a stealer of small things. I am ravenous, I feed myself on the most insignificant object, valueless, I glide between people,  I cut objects in pieces, collect the leftovers, but, despite all that I have taken, I feel as poor as I did before. [...]Fragmented writing is made up of chaotic phrases. This accumulation of layers of meaning, placed one upon the other doesn't provide satisfaction for those who seek to feel better in the world.’ (Amaury Da Cunha, from the book Saccades, Yellow Now, 2009).

Amaury da Cunha is interested in objects in the widest sense of the word. If these objects are to speak for themselves, the photographer has to uproot them from their normal environment. Only in this way can they regain their own possibilities of expression. To avoid the predetermined image, the artist approaches his subjects stealthily, from behind, and, suddenly makes them the protagonist of the scene, inhabitants of a space not originally intended for them. Da Cunha tells us about the essential fragility of the world through these decontextualised fragments.

Background

Paris, France, 1976

The artist studied photography at the National School of Photography in Arlés. He has developed a body of work which oscillates between the image and the written word. He has authored works of fiction and articles about photography, and has been published in Infra-mince, Photos Nouvelles, Vacarme, La Voix du regard, amongst other publications. At the moment he works in the photography department of the newspaper Le Monde.