Description

Jean Gaumy’s numerous works on human confinement have been coupled with a more contemplative photographic approach in recent years. In 2008, after his film aboard a nuclear submarine, he started photographic reconnaissance work that has already taken him from the arctic seas to the contaminated lands of Chernobyl and Fukushima. Concurrently, for the same project, he started a series of mountain landscapes and, in 2010, he received the Prix Nadar (for the second time) rewarding the book D’après Nature published with these pictures. The same year he was aboard the last and most modern submarine dedicated to nuclear deterrence.

Taking pictures is like fishing or writing. It's getting out of the unknown that which resists and refuses to come to light

Jean Gaumy
© Jean Gaumy | Magnum Photos

Jean Gaumy was born in August 1948 in Pontaillac (Charente-Maritime), France. He received his higher education in Rouen where he worked as editor and freelance photographer in a local daily newspaper to pay for his studies. He worked briefly at the Viva agency and later joined the French photo agency, Gamma, in 1973 at the request of Raymond Depardon.

Gaumy is known for his eloquently evocative photography and cinematography, achieved through a deep engagement with his subjects. From his famous long-term projects on the fishing industry, arctic exploration and 1980’s Iran to his groundbreaking work on the French penal and healthcare systems, Gaumy produces work that is both vivid and impactful.

Gaumy joined Magnum in 1977. He has been living in Fécamp, Haute-Normandie since 1995.

© Jean Gaumy | Magnum Photos

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