Photographer Edouard Sepulchre captures Paris like you’ve never seen it before

Date
21 June 2016

Our impression of Paris can often be rose-tinted, croissant-filled and full of cliche snapshots of the Eiffel Tower. Photographer Edouard Sepulchre wanted to show another side of Paris and in his series Colour Cube, he presents a completely new perspective of the city of love. “The beauty of Paris is usually captured from a romantic or classical angle. Everybody already knows this side of Paris. I was looking to be taken by surprise,” Edouard explains.

“I had just returned from the US and this trip turned out to be a real awakening for me on a photographic level,” he says. “I wanted to return to wide-open spaces cut by horizontal and graphic lines. The outskirts of Paris seemed like a good place to start.” Modernist blocks and dusty roads rule the landscape and many of the images look as though they could’ve been taken in eastern Europe, the USA, Japan and other unidentifiable places. This ambiguity is enhanced by the juxtaposition of new and in-progress structures with older buildings. “Today the outskirts of Paris and its suburbs seem to be undergoing transformation – decrepit buildings and neighbourhoods are being destroyed to re-build a new city landscape,” says Edouard.

Finding the places to photograph was one of Edouard’s biggest challenges as these alternative vistas are scattered across Paris, but the aesthetic of the series kept the photographer on track. “The colours, the textures, and the lines are what really interested me during the whole project. I was looking for diversity and a resulting harmony,” the photographer explains. “When concentrated and compiled into a series, the images create a new reality – an imaginary city. I like the idea of being able to travel mentally with ordinary, everyday scenes.”

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Edouard Sepculchre: Colour Cube

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Edouard Sepculchre: Colour Cube

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Edouard Sepculchre: Colour Cube

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Edouard Sepculchre: Colour Cube

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Edouard Sepculchre: Colour Cube

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Edouard Sepculchre: Colour Cube

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Edouard Sepculchre: Colour Cube

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Edouard Sepculchre: Colour Cube

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Edouard Sepculchre: Colour Cube

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About the Author

Rebecca Fulleylove

Rebecca Fulleylove is a freelance writer and editor specialising in art, design and culture. She is also senior writer at Creative Review, having previously worked at Elephant, Google Arts & Culture, and It’s Nice That.

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