From his experience as an educator in the neighborhoods of Toulouse, Arno Brignon (b. 1976) retains a passion for collaborative projects, often in the form of workshops and residencies rooted in urban or rural settings. Invited to Aussillon, he works in a housing project undergoing renovation and takes over an apartment in the abandoned buildings to live, photograph, and host meals; the practice of portraiture becomes a means of recreating, together with the residents, the memory of the place. In Valparaiso, he uses the calotype process to convey the alteration of memory and the disappearance of social bonds. Gradually, the photographer moves toward a deliberate dreamlike quality, embracing chance and seeking the unexpected. Recently, he embarked on a photographic journey to the United States with his family for a road movie (Us, 2018–2022) in which photography serves as a connecting thread, both with strangers encountered along the way and with his family members. His use of expired film, a product of a bygone industry, entrusts his photographic act to the erosion of the film, making way for the work of time.
