INTERVIEW
October 11, 2024
DO YOU SEE MY SILENT TEARS DRYING UP THE STREETS?
Photography by Justine Georget
Interview by Melanie Meggs
In the complex dynamics of urban environments, where the hustle of the city contrasts with moments of quiet introspection, Justine Georget's photography adeptly captures the subtleties of human experience. Since her transition from drawing to photography in 2020, Justine has dedicated herself to documenting the intricacies of city life using a Gx9 camera. Her photographic journey began in the streets of her home city, Lyon, and expanded to the urban landscapes of Korea during her travels. As her photos developed, Justine realized that her path as a street photographer had inevitably unfolded. Through her black-and-white imagery, she seeks to reveal the hidden layers beneath everyday scenes.
Justine’s approach centers on the interplay between solitude and the passage of time. Her images often depict solitary figures and fragmented moments, offering a detailed examination of individual experiences within the expansive urban setting. By working in black and white, she strips away the distractions of color, allowing the raw emotions and internal struggles of her subjects to come to the forefront. This method not only simplifies the visual narrative but also amplifies the depth of human experience, transforming mundane scenes into powerful commentaries on personal and collective anguish.
Justine’s photography explores the pervasive detachment and melancholy often found in city life. By framing the streets as a canvas, she reflects the silent struggles and unseen wounds of urban dwellers. Justine carefully captures these moments, revealing the subtle yet significant ways people navigate their internal and external realities.
In this interview, we explore Justine Georget’s photographic practice, analyzing how her visual narratives capture the intricate dynamics of solitude, resilience, and the relentless passage of time. Her images offer a compelling insight into the often-hidden emotional landscapes of urban life, revealing the intersections of pleasure and pain.
“In the noise of the cities, silences tell of the fragility of beings lost between toil and melancholy of the soul. Do you see their tears flowing imperceptibly into the wrinkles and the asphalt of smoking sidewalks? Are cities drinking away their torments?
There are legion of them struggling in these tumults, exorcizing their pain, losing their vital breath in the face of so many inner experiences of dryness. They remain gray. They are witnesses of urban ages, of screaming metropolises. Here, one drowns without water, another writes without ink, another calls without a cry. A last one adds a little water to his wine or soup. Only their tears flow from invisible wounds. They call their lost shadows. Nothing escapes their eyes, so they repair their wounds with magic drops.
Sadness is read to the infinity of a city that no longer mends silent agonies, so alone as before, they cry out with tears that dry up the cobblestones.”
IN CONVERSATION WITH JUSTINE GEORGET
THE PICTORIAL LIST: Hello Justine…thank you for sharing your poignant project with us. Welcome to THE LIST! Can you begin by detailing to our readers the transition from drawing to photography that you underwent in 2020? What prompted this shift, and how has it impacted your creative approach?
JUSTINE GEORGET: I started drawing and painting classes at the age of 9 and continued until I was 20, alongside my university studies, with a research master’s degree in 19th-century funerary architecture. In 2020, my partner gave me a camera. From that moment on, I began walking around the neighborhood pretending to take photos. I had no technique and only vaguely knew what street photography was. However, my years of drawing classes and practice quickly allowed me to frame my shots, to discern, in the immediacy of a scene, a movement, an expression, all the beauty and grace that we stubbornly ignore. The moment the camera clicks is impromptu, disarming, and jarring. My brain shuts down, leaving only vital factors. My heart races, sounds are muffled, and heartbeats timed. I capture at the perfect moment the multitude of particularities and details of a scene to bring out its unity. Photography immerses me in the world, while being out of time, out of contingencies.
TPL: Can you provide an overview of your project DO YOU SEE MY SILENT TEARS DRYING UP THE STREETS and explain what it ultimately represents? What central themes and messages are you aiming to convey through your exploration of urban solitude and emotional struggle?
JUSTINE: Hidden beneath the shimmering veneer of appearances and distractions of modern cities, there emerge atomized individuals, dominated by elemental emotions of despair and fatigue of living. Every presence is accompanied by a fundamental absence, a sort of void that absorbs bodies, engulfing energies. Each shot thus encapsulates something powerful, like a different sound amidst the deafening noise of the city, giving an emotionally moving and unsettling monophonic feeling. The point of reference is very local, emitted by the sole voice of a being, while using the vast urban space for the development of the subject.
TPL: Your project suggests a universal experience of sadness within the city. How do you balance personal expression with broader social commentary in your work?
JUSTINE: I do not seek to address these themes particularly; I am neither a journalist nor an activist, but social reality imposes itself on us, whether we like it or not. When I photographed this young girl who had been tear-gassed, her suffering became mine. My photography at that moment becomes a distorting mirror, almost expressionist, of my emotional state. The current event that caused this became secondary. There are so many reasons!
Because human distress remains regardless of its face: loneliness, exclusion, unemployment, racism, loss of values. We witness the crushing of humanity, and what remains is this deep feeling of malaise. However, in my photo “She leaves him, he kills her,” it is perhaps the photo where I place social reality in the foreground, with femicide, because it is a subject that particularly touches me as a woman. Nevertheless, it is quite rare; I prefer to keep the social reality mysterious and highlight the human subject as an emotional source.
TPL: Expanding from the previous question, what role does personal reflection play in your whole photography process, particularly in relation to your own connection to the subjects you photograph? How do you select the particular moments and figures that appear in your project? Are there specific criteria or instincts you rely on?
JUSTINE: When I press the trigger, I make a spontaneous visual decision based on an impulse, a resonance; it is not a rational thought process. Nevertheless, what interests me, more than any outward and obvious expression, is the shadow of the individual, the part of the unconscious that remains unexplored and hidden even to the subject of the photograph. Everyone has a shadow. The question is what one does with their shadow. Do we remain possessed by it, or do we make something of it? I have made my shadow, and those of the subjects I photograph, a creative shadow, a shadow of life where I show drama and suffering. For this series, which is a journey along the human spine, the faces of the people I photograph are never truly foreign to me. They always reflect essential elements of myself: my personal discomfort, my doubts, and my own anxieties. However, they never fully express them. They merely touch upon them. Everything ultimately remains quite mysterious.
TPL: Have you encountered any particular challenges in capturing the essence of solitude amidst the busy urban environment? How did you address them?
JUSTINE: For this series, I position myself in what could be described as emotional photography, in the sense that I confront reality but with an approach focused on emotions. One does not emerge unscathed from this incessant pursuit of the climax, due to this mirror effect between the photographed and the photographer. My difficulties are the same as those encountered by my fellow street photographers, who discuss them in articles or interviews.
For my part, I listen to music for about an hour before a session. This cuts me off from external stimuli and allows me to be more receptive when the time comes. After a session, I am very tired and speak little. I am digesting, like after a heavy meal, with the added physical fatigue.
TPL: How does your approach to black-and-white photography contribute to the thematic elements of your projects?
JUSTINE: Working solely in black and white allows me to detach from the surface of the world and simplify my perspective. The entanglement of colors, with its seductive and enchanting side, gives me the impression of not fully grasping the pith and marrow.
With monochrome, I create a cocoon of purity to welcome and subtly imprint it on my photograph.
TPL: What are some of the successes from the project, were there any surprises you embraced? If so, please share what they were.
JUSTINE: My first success with this series is that the team at The Pictorial List allowed me to showcase it as a cohesive unit, and thanks to them and all the anonymous individuals who make it up, I can express myself. Thank you!
TPL: What are your future plans for this project? Are there additional elements or themes you plan to explore or expand upon?
JUSTINE: It’s a never-ending project. My projects are never finished or successful. I take very few photos, and I also select them very radically. The problem is frustration. I can’t connect what I feel internally to the result. I always find it lacking. And since photography is supposed to convey something to others, if I only convey a tenth of what I feel, my frustration is intense. So, my quest continues.
TPL: Who or what are some of your major influences on your photography today? What impact have these influences made in the way you approach and create your work in photography?
TPL: What was the first camera you ever held in your hand, brought to eye, and released a shutter on? What is the camera you use now and your preferred focal length? Do you have anything on your Wishlist?
JUSTINE: I use the Panasonic Lumix GX9 combined with the 12-35mm F2.8. Mainly the 25 and 35 mm but sometimes also the 18 and 21 mm. This is the first camera I have held in my hands. On my Wishlist I would say the Ricoh GRIII. I struggle to relate to my peers who understand the intricacies of the technique. Besides, when I appreciate a beautiful photo, I don’t ask “how?”. In my work, I do not seek technical success, but the pith and marrow.
TPL: Can you share a memorable experience or moment that significantly influenced your approach to your photography in general?
JUSTINE: To take photos, I need to be in a place that stimulates me, where I will try to immerse myself. My first trip to Seoul transformed me, both as a photographer and as a human being. I photographed a world I had never known before, a world of vitality, intensity, and bubbling life, but also tragic with these elderly Koreans who turn to low-paying jobs to survive, due to the lack of an effective pension system. It is therefore a common sight to see them in the streets, between the glittering buildings, collecting cardboard and other waste to sell, or carrying heavy trays to deliver meals to stalls. Frantically, they light up the streets, day and night, as the machine roars and wears out their bodies already exhausted by this perpetual work. I have also created a series on this subject, titled “The Gray Fireflies of the Han River.
TPL: When you are not out exploring the streets creating your photography, what else could we find Justine doing?
JUSTINE: I develop dreams. I enjoy living as if I’m in a black-and-white movie. It lightens me up!
Justine Georget’s work offers an exploration of urban solitude and the subtle, often unseen emotional landscapes of city life. With her camera, the streets become a stage where personal experiences and broader societal themes intersect. Justine’s thoughtful approach to black-and-white photography strips away the distractions of color, allowing her subjects’ inner worlds to take center stage. Her project, “Do You See My Silent Tears Drying Up the Streets?”, reflects her commitment to capturing the complexities of human resilience, melancholy, and isolation in a way that is both personal and universally resonant. As she continues her photographic journey, Justine’s work challenges us to pause, look closer, and reflect on the often-overlooked emotional realities that shape urban life.
