ANTOINE LECHARNY
Côté fenêtre
PORTFOLIO
Take the first train to Deauville, return to Paris in the evening, take a train the next day to Deauville and return to Paris, etc. Paris - Deauville - Paris until exhaustion. Until the body is exhausted. Until exhaustion, above all, of the journey. To the point of feeling that I can no longer see anything through the window that I haven't already seen and, even more, that I no longer want to see anything else there.
Before exhaustion, I photographed a lot, very nervously and at the rhythm of appearances. I liked to go out when it was still dark, to mingle with the workers, the students, but also with those who don't know where they are going.
Antoine Lecharny, Côté fenêtre, courtesy the artist
Sitting on the edge of my seat, my body turned outwards and the camera lens pressed against the window. Looking from my seat at what it was like when the speed takes everything away and gives the illusion that the blocks of flats or farmhouses, which you pass on your way out of town, are slapped by the trees along the tracks, by a pole or by the rain. Waiting for the sun to rise and fill the carriage with another light. Revealing the faces and bodies of passengers awakened by the day or hiding from the first sunbeams, behind crossed arms or under the folds of their jackets, struggling to gain a few more minutes of sleep. Then stop at Evreux, accompany the smokers and get back on the train. To see a more suitcases piled up at the entrance of the carriages and new faces. Here, someone gets carried away on the telephone between two landing doors, we don't understand everything, over there, two girls, connected by a pair of headphones, are rocking out to the same music.
Antoine Lecharny, Côté fenêtre, courtesy the artist
After a long, hard braking, the train is emptied of its last passengers. On the platform, the flat tile roofs protect us from the rain and the wheels of the suitcases on the cobblestones cover its noise. Suddenly, the station hall fills up and everyone makes their way to the exit.
Taxis follow one after the other in front of the station, people walk across the square, others head for a bus stop a little apart. On the opposite pavement, over the car traffic, there is movement inside the bars. Further on, a gigantic sun beams down on the city and descends relentlessly towards the sea. Here, only a few minutes have passed and the station is depopulated. On the regular tiles of the hall, newspaper and wrappings are moved by warm air currents. An employee pulls back the curtains of the tobacco shop and the creaking of metal echoes through the station. The rain has stopped, the shadows lengthen and the hall is covered in red.
Antoine Lecharny
Antoine Lecharny, Côté fenêtre, courtesy the artist
ANTOINE LECHARNY - BIO
Antoine Lecharny is a photographer and visual artist born in 1995, living and working in Paris. At twenty years old, he went to Transylvania to photograph and share the life of Roma families in the shanty towns of Deva. At their side, he tries to capture the bonds that unite these families and their relationship with an environment that is often hostile to them. This work, which won Paris Match Grand Prix for student photojournalism, was presented at the Hôtel de Ville de Paris in 2019. Then, little by little, Antoine Lecharny began to photograph differently and abandoned a purely documentary intention, without ever ceasing to pay attention to the singularity of the people and of their environment. His latest book, Ano Meria, won the Hip Prize for self-publishing. He also obtained the Public Prize at the festival Les Boutographies with Même pas morts.
In parallel to his photographic work, he has been drawing and sculpting for years. Winner of the Audi Talents 2020 prize with Henri Frachon, he exhibited his latest sculptural project trou, triangle, jonc, doucine et dissonance at the Palais de Tokyo in Paris in 2021.
Coté Fenêtre was realised during the artistic residency Tremplin Jeunes Talents at the festival Planches Contacts in Deauville. This projet is the winner of the Jury Prize 2021.
