Winners of the Alfred Fried Photography Award 2013
Nomad's land
Alfred Fried Photography Award 2017 – Winner Alfred Fried Photography Award Medal
Yoann Cimier, Tunesia
Nomad’s Land When he was on vacation at the Tunisian island of Djerba, he looked out of the window and saw them: filigreed fragile buildings in the sand. Airy, short-lived constructions, minimalist architecture. They reminded him a bit of the ‘objects trouvés’ of the surrealists. And what were they in fact? Improvised one-day accommodation, temporary homes, nomadic installations of local beach goers, brought here on motorbikes, cars, donkeys. Now one might ask what is the peace aspect of this picture apart from the peace which the skin is supposed to make with the scorching sun. But for Yoann Cimier this was not the question. He discovered true poetry in these rudimentary homes, the carefreeness of their builders, the diversity of their creators. The beauty of lucid moments and days quite innocently spent by the seaside – which, as we know, has turned into a mass grave in other parts of the world. Here, however, forgetting is allowed. Peace. Yoann Cimier, born in the French town of Angers, completed a training to become a publishing house clerk, and he is a self-taught photographer and co-publisher of various literary works; he has lived in Tunisia since 2007. ‘Nomad’s land’ as he called his award-winning work, was published by the Tunisian publishing house Lalla Hadria Éditions and was already among the finalists of the Oskar Barnack Award.(Text by Peter-Matthias Gaede)
Photos by Yoann Cimier
Alfred Fried Photography Award 2017 – Winner Alfred Fried Photography Award Medal
Yoann Cimier, Tunesia
Nomad’s Land When he was on vacation at the Tunisian island of Djerba, he looked out of the window and saw them: filigreed fragile buildings in the sand. Airy, short-lived constructions, minimalist architecture. They reminded him a bit of the ‘objects trouvés’ of the surrealists. And what were they in fact? Improvised one-day accommodation, temporary homes, nomadic installations of local beach goers, brought here on motorbikes, cars, donkeys. Now one might ask what is the peace aspect of this picture apart from the peace which the skin is supposed to make with the scorching sun. But for Yoann Cimier this was not the question. He discovered true poetry in these rudimentary homes, the carefreeness of their builders, the diversity of their creators. The beauty of lucid moments and days quite innocently spent by the seaside – which, as we know, has turned into a mass grave in other parts of the world. Here, however, forgetting is allowed. Peace. Yoann Cimier, born in the French town of Angers, completed a training to become a publishing house clerk, and he is a self-taught photographer and co-publisher of various literary works; he has lived in Tunisia since 2007. ‘Nomad’s land’ as he called his award-winning work, was published by the Tunisian publishing house Lalla Hadria Éditions and was already among the finalists of the Oskar Barnack Award.(Text by Peter-Matthias Gaede)
Photos by Yoann Cimier
