Paris, May 1968 Riots: Gilles Caron exhibition May 4-Jul 28 at Hôtel de Ville, Paris

lynnb

Veteran
Local time
8:39 AM
Joined
Nov 1, 2008
Messages
11,301
Location
Sydney
NYT Lens has an article (paywalled) with a good selection of photographs of the May 1968 Paris riots, taken by photographer Gilles Caron, on the 50th anniversary of the riots.

Have a look at photo #6 of the photographers crowded on a roof under the Renault sign, where rangefinders appear to outnumber SLRs.

The article promotes an exhibition of his coverage of the May 1968 Paris riots, running from May 4 to July 28 at the Hôtel de Ville in Paris. Carron's photographs "stand as the most comprehensive and enduring record of the period".

Gilles Carron had a brief but highly productive and respected career. In 1967 he covered the Six Day War and also the battle of Hill 875 at Dak To, Vietnam. He covered the civil war in Biafra in 1968 alongside his rival Don McCullin. In April 1970, he disappeared with two other French citizens on Highway 1 in Cambodia, in an area controlled by the Khmer Rouge. He was 30 years old.

Google images retrieves a broad selection of his work.
 
Thanks Lynn for pointing us to this article. The photos are interesting maybe not much different from today riots photos. But anyway a good witness of the events. There is a sentence in the text which remains in my head : "In those days, there was still the belief that photography could contribute to not only observing the world, to understanding it better, but that it could also contribute to making it better."
I was 20 that time...
robert

PS: and about the photographer it is said :"“He understood that an event is at the same time the action and its media representation,” something to think about today as well...
 
Back
Top Bottom