An aftertaste of paradise

The photographs presented here, of different territories and aesthetic styles, are fully inscribed in the pursuit of the philanthropic banker Albert Kahn’s generous approach to art.

Albert Kahn created the “Archives of the Planet” in 1912, commissioning operators to travel to the four corners of the world in order for them to record different cultural reality in film and colour photography. One hundred years later, professionals from the Albert-Kahn Museum in Boulogne-Billancourt have decided to echo this project in today’s world, respecting the founder’s spirit.

For the second year, the Albert-Kahn museum and garden has organized the annual festival of contemporary photography, called “Allers-Retours”. In order to pursue the historic voyage proposed by the Archives of the Planet: photographic and cinematographic campaigns in over fifty countries on the eve of the 20th Century under the aegis of Albert Kahn, the festival proposes an incursion into today’s world.

Through visions of abandoned beaches in California (Camille Ayme), the built up coast-lines of Bahrain (Camille Zakharia) and the Camargue region of France (Vasantha Yogananthan), and the far off villages of Greenland (Tiina Itkonen) and Patagonia (Ghislain Sénéchaut), the museum invites you to discover the communities who live in territories where the seasons impose their rhythm and the relationship to nature requires permanent adjusting and repairs.