Jerome Poulalier

Eight years ago after receiving the prize from the Nicolas Hulot Foundation, awarded by PHOTO magazine, I made photography my full time job and since then have worked on numerous photo projects. For the past few years, my work and my artistic research has revolved around two dynamics: humans and their environment.

In 2021, Covid put a stop to all my international projects, so I worked in France, mostly for companies who wanted to tell their story in a different way, creating content to illustrate their "savoir-faire", but also highlight their humain resources, their tools and environment.  I worked for funeral services companies, butchers, entrepreneurs, steel industries, healthcare companies, construction companies...Same recipe I use for photo documentaries, but for companies.

In 2020, among other projects and photoshoots, I was shortlisted for the Prix Levallois for my photo documentary project in Kuwait. 30 years after Desert Storm, Kuwait is still in the process of rebuilding. The demolition of many historic sites has taken on such epic proportions that soon, no trace of history will remain. This series aims to tell the stories of the country and its people, and build a cultural archive composed of images and testimonies of a heritage soon to disappear.

In partnership with Granvillage (France, 2019), I created a series of immersive content highlighting the work and value of local producers and advocating for the “shop local” movement. Through their inspiring stories, each producer validates the importance of supporting French agriculture.

In 2018, the diversity of my projects was enriched by documenting the place of new technologies in our social relationships (Notifications, City of Brest). Later that year, I journeyed to Jordan to create the photo documentaries “Birds & People” and “Subsistence,” on behalf of Franco-Jordanian archaeological missions (SEBAP) and the English cultural organizations (Arts and Humanity Research Council), respectively, where I explored the practice of falcon hunting by Bedouin populations in the Southeast Jordanian desert and the management of water resources in a desert environment.

I documented the reality and the perception of the blind and visually impaired in my work for the Dallas Lighthouse for the Blind (Dallas, 2017) and the Federation des Aveugles de France (Lyon, 2018). “You can lose sight, but not your vision” is an accurate reflection made by one of the visually impaired whom I worked with and it is that concept that I try to apply to my approach and projects.

I’ve explored the new spaces and lives of nomadic populations, within the framework of the collective exhibition « Habiter le campement » (Live the Camp) in the Palais de Chaillot, Paris (2016). This exile, often hoped to be temporary, has evolved into a permanence that obliges its inhabitants to create a new societal mode.

New projects are always on the horizon, and as I am committed to learning about my ever changing craft I am currently following Alec Soth's masterclass with Magnum Photo.

All of my projects are also available on jeromepoulalier.com