synopsis
The photographs of Ed Alcock, and the accompanying short-story by Emmanuel Carrère capture the intimacy between a mother and her young son.
« He was neither man nor boy, he was but a hobbledehoy ». Ed Alcock’s father used this Old English rhyme to refer to the intermediate state through which boy children pass shortly after their tenth year.
Three periods, two summers, one year apart, and in the frame, Ed Alcock’s son, Nino, alone or with his mother. The first and last of these periods are solar, mineral. The other is wet and of a burgeoning green. Whatever the decor, these two characters appear to be as alone as on the first morning of the world, caught in a bubble of essential intimacy and an obvious physical proximity. Their love shines in this counted time, before the distancing of adolescence, when the mother still has access to the « virginal » body of a son, who may still lie full length, against her naked body. But in the heat and abandon of peaceful holiday idleness, a slow, silent, irreversible metamorphosis is at work. "Children are like the years," said Céline, "we never see them again".
photos du livre
technical information
Publisher : Terre bleue
Year : 2013
Language : french, english
Pages : 99
Dimensions : 17,5 x 23,5 cm
Year : 2013
Language : french, english
Pages : 99
Dimensions : 17,5 x 23,5 cm
about Ed Alcock
Ed Alcock is a Franco-British documentary and portrait photographer, born in the UK. After earning a PhD in mathematics, he moved to Paris and began his career as a photographer for The Guardian and The New York Times, covering France, Europe, and Africa.
Alcock now works with major international publications, including The Guardian, The Economist, The New York Times Magazine, Le Monde, Elle, and Polka Magazine, among others. He is represented by Agence MYOP in Paris.
His personal projects explore themes of intimacy, identity, and territory. Notable series include Hobbledehoy (published by Terrebleue with an original short story by Emmanuel Carrère), Love Lane, and The Wait, which examines the impact of a family secret. Following Brexit, he spent four years on See EU Later, a project documenting British perspectives on the referendum, in partnership with Le Monde. In Home, Sweet Home, exhibited at the Rencontres d’Arles, he questions whether one needs Gallic ancestry to be truly French. In Sterile, he explores life during the first COVID-19 lockdown, blending humor and existential reflections.
In 2024, Alcock was shortlisted for the Prix Niepce and participated in exhibitions at the Bibliothèque Nationale de France, Musée Niepce, and Hotel Fontfreyde. He was also selected by The Guardian newspaper, to provide their exclusive coverage of the Paris Olympics. In 2022 and 2023, he was a finalist for the Taylor Wessing Photographic Portrait Prize. His project Risk Zones was selected for the Bibliothèque Nationale de France, and he received funding from CNAP for an upcoming documentary project.
His work has been exhibited widely, including at the National Portrait Gallery (London), Rencontres d’Arles, the Promenades photographiques de Vendôme, and internationally at venues such as the GoEun Museum (Busan, Korea) and Lentos Kunstmuseum (Linz, Austria).
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Publisher : Terre bleue
Year : 2013
Language : french, english
Pages : 99
Dimensions : 17,5 x 23,5 cm
Year : 2013
Language : french, english
Pages : 99
Dimensions : 17,5 x 23,5 cm