Dominique Thirion · moroccan wanderings

moroccan wanderings

Errance marocaine is my first work. I began a course in the deep south of Morocco by attempting to convey the atmosphere of a small rural village near Zagora. Slightly vexed, because the results did not really come up to my instructor’s expectations, in the last few days I pulled out of an expedition in the desert to call myself into question and wander around the suburbs and along the roads. When the group returned to Belgium, I stayed in Marrakech and continued my roaming.

Later on, I discovered “Errances” by Depardon. It was only then that I began to understand the sense of my work. Not reports, or documentaries, but simply a way of looking that is not seeking anything but that, precisely because it is not seeking anything, goes beyond outward appearances and sheds a different light on what is there, what everyone can see but no-one does see.

I would not really describe myself as a photographer. I’m not interested in (overly) beautiful pictures. Technology gets on my nerves, I use a bridge camera and for a long time I worked in automatic mode.

Photography is a solitary art. You have to face yourself. Every (good) photograph is a sort of self-portrait in which you have removed your mask (because the way you look at things has a mask, too). You feel something, most of the time you don’t even know what, and you push the button. Afterwards, you have to make sense of it, translate it to let others see. There are many ways of experiencing things, so you need a variety of perspectives.

Of course, the quality of the way you look at things counts, too. Visiting museums and my profession as an antiques dealer have helped me a great deal.