Tropics

Julien Coquentin

2017-2019 — Reunion Island

About this series

“He’s an old man whose body I wash every morning. A room without soul, silence, an island.
I don’t know if he speaks my language. He smiles at me from time to time and seems to understand my simple orders.
Despite his great age, Mr. Yu has the body of a young man, his skin does not crack or wither in any place and the flesh tense as the appearance of not having lived. But the illusion stops there, because Mr. Yu is tired of having already felt too much.
I feel that my photography is born in this room. A way of telling, of these stories told to children, the memory of human, the water flowing from the mountain.
I think Mr. Yu is going to die soon.
My daughters trudge valiantly in the gullies. We sink into the island while the body of Mr. Yu’s remains motionless. The wind is rising from horizon, the storm is coming from the sea.”

Photographer: Julien Coquentin
Nationality: French
Based in: Paris, France
Website: http://juliencoquentin.com
Instagram: @juliencoquentin