Thomas Rousset & Charles Negre’s Surrealistic Journey Through Indonesia

Constructing surrealistic and fictional realities all their own, the pictures were taken in Indonesia over a course of two months in 2014. This unique series contains documentary-style photographs with the intentionality of studio-based staging, showing everyday elements combined and repurposed to highly theatrical ends. Capturing banana leaves as backpacks, miniature boats as shoes, snakes as headbands and office décor, the series voices the idea of a clash of civilisation. Each picture is deliberately arranged and extensively prepared to make the compositions appearing absurd. Rousset and Negre meticulously constructed photos have an hypnotizing and quirky impact to the beholder, affording a glimpse into a slightly altered Indonesian landscape that seems disquieting, uncanny and sometimes humorous. Thomas Rousset and Charles Negre published their pictures in a miscellany by Études Studio.