Rêve d'Orient

«  My first “real” photograph : Mekong Delta, Vietnam, October 1991. I was 23 years old and was making my first journey to Asia, following the footsteps of my dad who was a navy officer. In Vietnam, I had chosen as a theme the Mekong Delta, with an old Olympus and Marguerite Duras as my travel stipends. Seeking otherworldiness and perfection, my mind was filled with the great pictures of Bischof, Cartier-Bresson et Riboud. When I came back to Paris and discovered this picture, I was certain that photography would follow me throughout the world and that it would be the essentiel witness of my life. »

François Fontaine, an atypical case of the French artistic scene, began with History of Art studies in the Sorbonne University, where he wrote a PhD. This specialist of artistic theory soon let himself be enthralled with the medium of photography and travelling.

Therefore, he is more to be seen as a traveller, a poet of the image, than as a pure photographer. François Fontaine's speech appears simple and tender at the same time, especially when he tackles the journeys or his own life and his random encounters.