Claire Kern

Photographer
 
Chamboulement
Location: Mathenay
Nationality: French
Biography: Claire Kern (b.1982) was born in France. In 2003, she moved to the UK where she still reside. Since then she has practiced photography as a freelance photographer and artist. In 2012, she graduated with a BA(Hons) Documentary Photography at the... MORE
Public Story
Chamboulement
Copyright Claire Kern 2024
Updated Mar 2014
Topics Adolescence, Aerial, Affluence, Architecture, Arts, Birth, Cancer, Children, Community, Conceptual, Confrontation, Documentary, Dreams/Subconscious, Editorial, Education, Emotion, Energy, Environment, Events, Family, Fire, Friends + Family, Happiness, Homelessness, Hope, Illness, Isolation, Loss, Love, Mixed Medium, Personal, Photography, photojournalism, Portraiture, Privacy, Sorrow, Still life, Street, Youth

“Chamboulement”

In 2009, my family home in Jura, France, burned down. Over thirty years of my parents' life and twenty-one of my own went up in smoke. Soon after the event, I arrived at the house in the early morning to salvage what I could. I saved the family photos and documented the aftermath of the fire. The fire brought many unresolved matters to light, though at the same time, so much was thrust into darkness. Those saved photographs and the subsequent ones i made, succeed in bringing two distinct timelines together.

The piece of work is a collection of documentary photographs and family photographs. The documentary photographs are the result of weeks spent with my family in the aftermath of the fire: the recollection of those events that so deeply affected the entire family. Juxtaposing the family photographs and slides salvaged from the ruins gives one an opportunity to look at the past and the present moments, as they look toward each other. The happy house that was, is looking at what it has become; as are the residents and associates of that dwelling.

LinkedIn Icon Facebook Icon Twitter Icon
3,350