Virus
September 14, 2020Over the past few years, I’ve had the pleasure to work as a translator for the French photographer Antoine d’Agata and we have been able to collaborate on several books. None has had such a profound impact as Virus.While I am a deep admirer of Antoine’s photography and I find his ideas and philosophies utterly compelling, I think that at heart we take a different approach to the animal desperation that resides within humanity. I try to tamp mine down, ignore it, tame it; Antoine embraces it and explores it while evoking often unwelcome truths about the human condition and modern society.
Virus is a different type of project for Antoine because it examines the nature of the pandemic lockdowns and what these lockdowns represent in terms of the relationship between individual freedom and government control. The book features work by stunningly gifted writers and thinkers, including Mathilde Girard, Léa Bismuth, Frédéric Neyat, and Yannick Haenal, and it presents bracing ideas and perspectives that challenge almost everything we might think. As a translator, it is a privilege to work with such original voices and such meticulously refined arguments, and as always Antoine has exhibited such masterful sensitivity both in his images and his approach to artistic collaboration.
Learn more about the Covid shoots *here* and the book project *here*
