Thierry Fontaine

One More Island, 2003

Everyone Creates Their Own Island, 2005

Colour photographs, Ground floor main corridor, Mile End Hospital

Fontaine is from the French overseas department of La Réunion, in the Indian Ocean, which informs much of his work. These two large photographs are examples of the artist’s interest in the interplay between geography and personal, cultural and racial identity.

One More Island, 2003

Everyone Creates Their Own Island, 2005

Fontaine makes sculpture, but photography is intertwined with his performance-based practice. The scale, size and limits of what is seen are carefully considered, and he often speaks of ‘photographing ideas.' Many of his works verge on self-portraiture, yet he often covers his face, or--as in these works--only reveals his hands. 


About the artist

Thierry Fontaine was born in St. Pierre, La Réunion in 1969. He studied art at the École Supérieure des Arts décoratifs in Strasbourg, France, graduating in 1992. In 2000 he completed a residency at the Villa Medicis in Rome and he has exhibited at Studio Museum (New York), Centre Pompidou (Paris), SFMOMA, and other venues around the world.

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Anka Dabrowska