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Romanian Rip © Rip Hopkins / Agence VU / |
Rip Hopkins
Romanian Rip
"Romanian Rip", photographs by Rip Hopkins, 2008
In 2008, an insurrection took place in Timisoara, and prepared the way for the Romanian revolution, which resulted in the fall of the communist regime.
Twenty years later, Rip Hopkins went to the city - a vital one in modern history - and painted an unexpected portrait of its inhabitants. The latter are from all the social classes, and were photographed in the most diverse situations - with their families, at school, at work, in their intimacy, and so forth ? using an original method, which enabled the photographer to fully affirm his role in the production of the images.
Born in Sheffield (England) in 1972, Rip Hopkins has for the past ten or so years been constructing an atypical oeuvre, which has freed itself of the categories which are usually employed in photography. With the benefit of a rigorous historical and social approach, he gives his creativity and his acute sense of diversion free rein, and searches for a balance between the objective of reportage and the subjectivity of his point of view.
The project "Fabriques de l'Europe"
The series "Romanian Rip" arose from the project "Fabriques de l'Europe" which brought together six photographers who are members of the VU agency, and gave them as a theme the future of Europeans, to be created in six distinct cities. The work of the five others photographers* will also be presented in the peristyle of the Town Hall (Hôtel de Ville) in the form of a slide show, in order to provide an overview of this ambitious initiative.
* Gilles Favier : Dublin / Cédric Gerbehaye : Lodz / Martin Kollar : Belgrade / Pieter Ten Hoppen : Malmö / Paolo Verzone : Turin
