Raoul Ries

CÒRREC SEC
(2023)

In 2023, the region of Pyrénées-Orientales in the South of France experienced the worst drought in decades. These record events seem to become more frequent and gradually more extreme.

I used the idea of increasing aridity, temperature and insolation to develop the look of the images in this series called ‘Còrrec Sec’, Catalan for ‘Dry Creek’. How would the inevitably increasing warming impact this landscape? What would it look and feel like in the future? I noticed that plants that usually have green leaves started to become yellowish, and decided to amplify the visual impact of the lack of water in mountain streams, fields, and rivers of the plain in my photographs.

The beauty of the resulting images contrasts with the implied hostility of the landscape.

Raoul Ries (*1968) is a photographer based in London and in Luxembourg. He is interested in people and in their desire to shape their environment. The visible traces of the amalgamation of their ambitions, economic realities and the history of the places inspire his photographic projects. Over the past decade, Raoul's projects have been exhibited in Luxembourg, England, Spain, France, Finland, Senegal and Latvia. He self-published "Postcards from Ameryka", "99 CFA" and "Comfort Zone Helsinki". Hatje Cantz Verlag published the book "Thirty-six Views of Mount Fuji". In 2020 The Velvet Cell released "The New Towns".

© CDI / Laurent Sturm, 2024