Butterfly in Paris, 2023

Jean-François Levere  

From my earliest childhood, as far back as I can remember, I recall always observing the graphic lines of landscapes, buildings, monuments, everything that my eyes led me to look at.

I played with spaces simply by looking at objects with my eyes. The graphic nature of the places imposed itself on me.

The day I first encountered a camera, it was love at first sight with this fascinating and wonderful object that could translate my visions, my visual interpretations. I then had the revelation that the camera would become the tool of an artistic process that is mine and that has always been a part of me.

As I grew up, I discovered that photography had the power to open me up to the world and was both a reason to travel and an invitation to discover distant or unexpected places.

In 2002, I created a photographic book about the behind-the-scenes of the 24 Hours of Le Mans, related to my work in the field of motor racing. Later, I produced a travelogue in Chile focusing on the lives of the Mapuche Indians and had the opportunity to exhibit at the Visa pour l'Image Off Festival in Perpignan and at the Le Mans Image Festival.

With a background in photojournalism, and a degree from the EMI-CFD school, I have also had the opportunity to produce eclectic reports on everything from a major British football club to intergenerational solidarity in our major French cities.

On my own initiative, in 2006, on the occasion of the 70th anniversary of paid leave, I travelled for months across our country in a camper van in order to carry out a photographic work entitled "Les Congés Photographiés", in partnership with journalistic or commercial actors such as Le Monde, SFR, or Nikon, who were sensitive to my approach.

Throughout these years, this openness to the world has also translated into an interest in the work of renowned photographers. I have thus built a strong photographic culture by drawing inspiration from and absorbing their art, their techniques, and their inspirations.

Inspirations which, since 2009, during my many business trips, have gradually transformed to take a new, more artistic direction.

During my travels in Asia, Hong Kong, Macau, New Zealand, and even within Europe, I initially photographed situations, moments, then people, shadows, their movements, reflections, sometimes still in color, then less and less, and today, exclusively in black and white. Black and white best reflects my artistic inspiration.

My artistic approach, through photography, its black and white, the shadows and reflections captured, consists of guessing and proposing another point of view, another observation, of a place, a situation or a moment that will no longer exist a reasonable amount of time later, of what seems to be happening there for everyone.