Thierry Arensma is a French photographer based in Paris. During a voyage in Hong Kong in 2010, Arensma created an out-of-ordinary vision of the megalopolis. “At first sight; these photographs could be mistaken for enlargements of old photographs, quaint snapshots stumbled upon in Cat Street perhaps. We soon realise, however, that there are in fact recent pictures: different types of modern architecture; skyscrapers, given a ‘vintage’ photographic aspect,” explains the critic and curator Marie Deparis-Yafil.
Arensma’s series offers a timeless and poetic vision of Hong Kong thanks to his acute sense of composition and the specific technique. “I’ve already been in this city, it knows me (…). This time, unlike on previous occasions, I am here with my 4x5 inch view camera and my boxes of out-of-date Polaroids,” says Arensma. “My brother Jean-Louis, who lives in Hong Kong and know the city well, graces me with his presence and comes to my aid as a much-needed sherpa to help carry part of my equipment around,” he continues. “I could not do without him, for he leads me down invisible streets and places.”
“The negative needs to be saved but I can feel that the strength of the humidity is changing the result and that if, as I had initially planned, I risk losing this picture for ever and a day (…). Back in Paris, I hastily scanned the matrixes which continued to evolve unceasingly. Some of the pictures are so altered that they are beyond retrieval, while others are just right: that is, on the spirit of my vision of this city.”
