Cyprien GAILLARD, Working in a State of Emergency

In 2007, Cyprien Gaillard, a young French artist, went to Glasgow to take photographs of housing projects and graves that were to be destroyed (the buildings) or restored (the graves). The series, titled “Working in a State of Emergency” evokes an archeological process. The printing and framing of the images goes on with this metaphor: the C-Prints are given a sepia note, while the photographs are place under several layers of matte boards, as if they had been buried and re-discovered many years later.
Photography here retains its first role: keeping trace of a vanishing subject. Thanks to Cyprien Gaillard, these buildings that are not allowed to become ruins (as Hubert Robert’s paintings are full of), are given a lasting mausoleum.