Born in 1980, Julien Lombardi studied first ethnology. He turned to photography eventually as a means of achieving an artistic investigation. His artistic approach to the medium transforms reality into a theater of illusion.
His staging of the ordinary creates a simulacrum, and the neutral elements of our daily lives take on new meanings. No matter where they are captured, his images are enigmatic documents that gradually give rise to a sense of uncertainty.
His work has received honors including the Bourse du Talent, the Marco Pesaresi Award 2015 and was finalist of the HSBC Prize for Photography 2016.
Since the collapse of the Soviet Union, Armenia is in transition between two worlds. A new model has formed but, given its plurality, remains difficult to identify. Just as the country which has inspired them, the photographs in this series are awaiting a story.
These documents reflect “the unfinishedâ€, a moment of transformation in which opposing forces coexist eventhough we are unable to differentiate between them. The series can be interpreted as a constituent of fictitious archives of a country whose history is in full construction.
