Jean Christophe Couet

Internal Displacement

August 17 - September 28, 2010

Artist Talk and Short Film
August 17th at 7:30 PM

Jean Christophe’s images focus on how notions of national identity are playing out in two former USSR states that border one another—Transnistria and Moldova. Transnistria is a de facto, breakaway state with no official recognition. In contrast, Moldova aims to join the EU and considers Transnistria to be under its domain.   Of capturing people’s daily lives in both areas, Jean Christophe remarks, “There’s something magical about transitory places, where you don’t know if you’re going forward or backward. In Transnistria, western culture is viewed with wariness; one is encouraged to speak Russian, to study in Moscow. There’s a nostalgia for a past that never really existed. In contrast, Moldova, the poorest country in Europe, strives to mold itself along the lines of a western country and resists Russian influence.”   For the opening night reception, film producer and director Jeremy Kipp Walker  (Maria Full of Grace, Half Nelson) will introduce Jean Christophe and his work. “Jean Christophe structures his documentary photography through the eye of a filmmaker,” Walker says. “The human experiences he shares in his latest project are footprints in time. Couet’s imagery shows us plainly what usually cannot be seen—only felt.”  

Biography:

Jean Christophe was born in France in 1974 to a French father and an American mother of Lithuanian origin, and has been a part time New Yorker since the age of eight. In 1998, he completed an MFA from Prague’s film academy of performing arts (FAMU). After working as an art director for Ogilvy and Mather in Budapest, he moved to Italy, where he directed short films to support social campaigns for Fabrica, Benetton’s communications research center. This led to a collaboration with Colors Magazine, where Jean Christophe created photographic essays and wrote articles covering social themes—first in Eastern Europe, then in New York City. Whilst in New York, Jean Christophe joined Journeyman Pictures in 2001 to work on the film Maria Full of Grace. He continued as an editor for Journeyman and also Artist Public Domain until 2005. In 2006 he turned his attention back to documentary photography and began a long-term project about transitional states in the Eastern Bloc. His work in Kosovo in 2007 and Abkhazia in 2008 was supported by UNICEF. Out of his latest body of work “Internal Displacement,” he created an animated short in collaboration with contemporary artist Hans Op de Beeck, who wrote an original score for it. Currently, Couet is finishing a two-year fellowship at Le Fresnoy-Studio National des Arts in France. 

The Half King photography series is curated by James Price and Anna Van Lenten

Previous exhibitions at The Half King