The series “Homo Urbanus Europeanus” is about the Man, in the City, in Europe… let’s say about the European “Urban Being”.
Its author, the artist photographer Jean Marc Caracci, has covered urban landscapes the same way an archaeologist observes, looks for, digs up and tries to reconstruct some primitive spaces. He observed the city inhabitants and their environment like a biologist studies within a cell.
Each picture of the series “HUE”, by the accuracy of its framing and its crisp style, sounds like a hymn to the magnificent citizen. This character walking, stopping and weaving through the city, often lonely but no less proud and determined, does not show any kind of alienation, but rather has the stature of a conqueror. Moreover, this human presence, this silhouette captured with fineness, always in the right place at the right time, gives the city an unexpected beauty and majesty.
Although being an aesthetic work, the series “Homo Urbanus Europeanus” does not hide its political dimension. Indeed, 41 European capitals photographed, each in the same style, sober and without any cultural or social visibility, thus favoring the similarity to the difference, the “europeanity” to the diversity. The series “HUE” clearly expresses a utopic but franc “Yes to Europe”.
Below is the list of the 41 European capitals photographed : Bratislava, Riga, Vilnius, Sofia, Madrid, Warsaw, Rome, Ljubljana, Zagreb, Belgrade, Helsinki, Tallinn, Reykjavik, Paris, Brussels, Oslo, Stockholm, Prague, Berlin, Istanbul, Lisbon, Bucharest, Tirana, Budapest, Vienna, Athens, Luxemburg, Copenhagen, Amsterdam, London, Dublin, Sarajevo, Podgorica, Pristina, Skopje, Chisinau, Nicosia, Valletta, Minsk, Yerevan, Tbilisi and Kiev. Istanbul is the only city which is not a capital, but nonetheless regarded as the European capital of Turkey. Last capitals to be added to the series : Bern, Tórshavn, Vaduz and Moscow.
Already 49 exhibitions “Homo Urbanus Europeanus” have been held in 27 countries : Poland, France, Spain, Bulgaria, Germany, United Kingdom, Australia, Estonia, Czech Republic, Finland, Macedonia, China, South Korea, Slovenia, Slovakia, Ukraine, Croatia, Austria, Hungary, Kazakhstan, Burkina Faso, Cyprus, Brazil, Ivory Coast, Zimbabwe, Trinidad & Tobago, Peru.
About Jean-Marc Caracci
Of 100% Sicilian heritage, Jean-Marc Caracci was born in Tunisia in 1958… but he has lived in south of France, Montpellier, since his little childhood. Self-taught photographer, Caracci started using black room at the age of 15. When he was 20, he had the great opportunity to be the photographer of the regiment where he made the army. He learnt a lot there how to photograph people, and his work started focusing on the Man… the Man as a representation of belonging, rarely as a social object. His style is clearly inspired by photographers Henri Cartier Bresson, Elliott Erwitt and Raymond Depardon… but also by the American painter Edward Hopper, and for sure (very visible when looking at my series “Homo Urbanus Europeanus”) by the sculptor Giacometti. In late 2005, Caracci decided to leave the company where he was employed, in order to devote himself exclusively to photography… and so began a photographic artist full-time career.[Official Website][Portfolio]
