French photographer Claude Iverné, awarded the 2015 HCB Prize for his project “Sudanese photographs, the river of Gazelles,” has been exploring North and South Sudan for nearly twenty years. He is exhibiting his “Bilad es Sudan” photos at the Fondation Henri Cartier-Bresson (until July 30, 2017).
News from South Sudan is grim… war, famine, victims fleeing their homes… Iverné however deliberately choses not to portray violence and the stereotypical. His documentary style photographs—many of which were taken with a large format camera—are closer to “carnet de voyage” poetry than photojournalism… more Walker Evans than Robert Capa. About the “Bilad es Sudan” photos he says. “I simply want to share the things I’ve seen and people I have met in Sudan over the years.”
In 1999, Iverné set off along the “Forty Day Trail,” the ancient caravan route linking Egypt and the sultanate of Darfur. He learned Arabic and became passionate about the region and its people. In 2003 he founded “Elnour,” a publishing house and collaborative documentary collective with Sudanese photographers, researchers and international artists. “Elnour “—which in Arabic means the light— houses a collection of about 12,000 digitized images on Sudan dating from 1890 until now along with vintage and contemporary prints, books, maps and articles http://www.elnour.net
Claude Iverné “Bilad es Sudan” to July 30, Fondation Henri Cartier Bresson, 2, impasse Lebouis, 75014 Paris. The exhibition will be shown at the Aperture Foundation in New York from September 15 to November 9, 2017