‘In 1978, Thierry Girard approached the territories of the Nord and Pas-de-Calais as an artist-surveyor of the chance of his encounters and intuitions. He would continue this adventure for several years in a row, magnetised by what he discovered of daily life. In 2017 and 2018, the photographer decided to retrace his steps in the mining basin of Nord and Pas-de-Calais, returning to the origins of his photographic work.
The World After interweaves these visions of a disrupted territory, captured almost forty years apart by the same man, a photographer turned to the "lives of the world,” who himself has evolved in his way of being there and in what he calls, like a craftsman, a way of looking. The book is built around these two lines of inquiry (Black and white with Leica in the 80s, color in digital medium format now) merged into a single block, transcribing Girard’s singular gaze.’ (From the publisher)
Published by Light Motiv, 2019. Text in French.