picturetank.com
Français Anglais Retour Retour

Nomads

Franco Zecchin

Since 1991, Franco Zecchin has spent a long time working on the nomads. These Indians are the eighth population he's visited. He explains to me that these natives continue to keep a spirit that identifies them with their roots, and with regard to the authorities and the government they have fighting attitude. They are not a all resigned. Seeing him so relaxed worries me. Does he stay in contact with Paris, with his family, with his friends when he travels afar? "I always have a little radio with me in order to listen the international news... And then, in the capitals now it's easy to phone or e-mail. Of course, the nomads are not close to the capitals or the great buildings of the cities. But I follow the nomads in their activities. I move with them. What I like of them, the nomads, is the authentic and simple relationship that they develop. And then I love to come face to face with other cultures, other descriptions of the world, other ways of perceiving things. It gives a relativity to my personal vision of the world." It is a question of balance? "No, it's not a question of balance, rather the opposite. I'm looking to unbalance myself, I put myself in critical situations. I throw open the debate on this system of values that is linked to departure, to all that is making-believe in travelling. I close a door behind me and I don't know what is going to happen. I seek as if it were the last journey". When Franco travels, he takes a few books with him. And he write a notebook. Technical notes. Addresses. Timetables. For him, travelling precede photography, but that doesn't mean that he want to go everywhere. That doesn't interest him, he adds, you only live once and you have to be selective. I think that it's safe to say that Franco Zecchin is a very determined man. What's more powerful Franco, the journey itself or the idea of travelling? "I search out of this disruption because I consider it to be vital, this upheaval that forces me to keep moving mentally. It's not necessarily the journey that attracts me, but the idea of re-inventing yourself day by day or living with an awareness of existing. For me, it's also related to photography. To be ready to react to outside visual stimuli. But it's possible to travel in your own neighbourhood... I started travelling before becoming a photographer. Photography is a very good pretext and also in a certain sense something which gives a result". Does he feel alone in his work? "People, in general, like what I do and encourage me to continue. What you have to know is what your aim, your ideal in life is. For example, for me, worldly success is not important, but you can loose yourself as well in your day to day needs. My ambition is to have, in the end, results that will remain with time and that are not related to the moment's fashion. Photography should speak for itself. I have no ideas, I tunes myself in to the immanence in order to be both the exterior and the interior of myself". Facing Franco Zecchin is not a demanding task. And it's just this that is rather rare, this feeling of being an equal, knowing that there is nothing at stake, and above all no wheeling and dealing. Emotionally or ... socially or ... romantically. It's matter of sharing a little time in the present moment, absolutely nothing in the scale of interplanetary relations, and all as we were naturally drawn together, as if we had always known each other. When "Chroniques Siciliennes" (Sicilian Chronicles, with Letizia Battaglia, 1989 Paris, Centre National de la Photo) was published, the photographs gave out such violence and a violence of such purity that I was taken aback. And from that moment I felt an intense admiration for these two reporters who had had, I don't know if the word seems shocking, the guts, or sufficient determination to follow their suject to the very end, without weakening (and despite the threats). FRANCO ZECCHIN: The Man of Great Determination by Brigitte Ollier.



top
Retour Retour