Damien Caccia’s (b. 1989) photography is rooted in a pictorial practice. His painting, which was initially figurative upon completing his studies, has become increasingly abstract. The representation of the material gradually becomes his subject, and the painter scrapes away until only the trace of the gesture that applied the color remains. The canvas becomes the site of a past action of which only an increasingly evanescent, altered mark remains. It is for its quality as a residual imprint that the painter turns to photography. At times he sets out to record an entire garden with a portable scanner, then transmits it via fax as a large roll of paper. Later still, he probes the memory of a phone screen, searching beyond the screensaver to recover the ghostly image it conceals. With Larmes (2015–2022), he creates a body of work that demands attention: minute details, insignificant moments captured—one is not quite sure how—on small surfaces (thin drops of glue) resembling uneven lenses.
