This work is the result of an artistic residency commissioned by the Transit photography collective, with a creative grant from the city of Montpellier, France.
A residency is a process of research. The aim was to focus on the city of Montpellier and its rapidly changing urban space.
Searching without knowing what would be found, and faced with the emptiness of a blank page, walking through the city became the only solution.
The work began, as usual, by analyzing the city’s layout, routes, boundaries, and the various characteristics that make up its urban fabric, using maps and by traveling all the streetcar and bus lines from end to end. The city limits were also explored on foot, along the Lez and Mosson rivers.
At times, the artist admits to having felt lost in front of this blank page, unsure of how to approach the subject, experimenting with various methods and media, from large-format to digital cameras.
Refuge was eventually found along the green banks of one of the smallest rivers in France, the Lez, which is barely thirty kilometers long. The decision was made to focus on this waterway, from source to mouth. Along the way, both wild and managed, bucolic and at times implausible natural spaces were discovered, leading to the creation of this series of images, conceived to remain entirely green.
When it came to printing, a search began among the dozens of paper types available in fine art stores. The photographs presented here are pigment prints on Lokta paper, handmade from the fibers of the Daphne papyracea, or Lokta, shrub that grows at high altitudes in Nepal. Its uneven surface and rough texture make it almost incompatible with printing. Its natural hue reflects the seasonal variations of the plant and the soil and will undoubtedly evolve unpredictably over time, allowing the image itself to embody nature’s transformations.
About Cyrus Cornut
Cyrus Cornut (born 01/11/1977, France) is a Paris-based photographer trained as an architect. His work primarily focuses on the city—its forms, transformations, traces, empty spaces, and the human behaviors it generates.
In 2006, his first exploration of Chinese cities was presented at the Rencontres Internationales de la Photographie in Arles, under the artistic direction of Raymond Depardon. He joined the Picturetank cooperative agency in 2007, where he remained until its closure in 2017. In 2010, as part of the France 14 group, he presented Travelling to the Outskirts, a project examining the landscapes of mass housing in the Île-de-France region.
Since 2011, his research has expanded to include the role of plants, not only within urban environments but also in rural landscapes. He is currently working on a large-format 4×5 project, allowing for a deliberate and sustained examination of urban transformations in both Asia and France. In parallel, he is developing a more experimental body of work that combines drawing, engraving, and photography. [Official Website]
