My name is Bruno Liffran. I was born on August 3rd 1953.

I live in Le  Kremlin- Bicêtre. My relationship with art, and particularly with visual arts, plays a key role in my life though I work in an environment which is far distant from the artistic world.

When speaking about great masters of painting, it is often said that Time paints. The same applies to photography I think. You should let time take its course and suggest alternative approaches and new ideas. Working on negatives is essential to me even if this statement can sound controversial at a time when numerical pictures mean everything. Yet to me they abolish the distance which is so necessary for a genuine creation. Your way of looking at things now is seldom the right way.

Prague and India represent two decisive photographic experiences. I went to Prague five times for short periods of time, often in winter or at the beginning of spring. I was fascinated by the overlapping memories that you can experience throughout the city and by its cinematic beauty. It reflects the sheer complexity of the former Mitteleuropa.

A four-week journey from the West to the East of India gave me the opportunity while taking photographs to be challenged by the Other’s eye. In western and in Maghreb countries, the presence of a camera often triggers suspicion or even hostile reactions because people feel that the camera steals something from them. There is no such thing in India where a stranger often meets curiosity and kindness, as my pictures reveal. I have also thoroughly enjoyed this country for its contradictions and its peculiar relation with Time.

At last China! It is a whole new world, forever linked with my daughter Camille who has half-opened to me the gates of this land thanks to her love of the country, of its people and thanks to her command of the language , which opens many doors! One single trip through southern China, its karstic mountains and its gigantic towns. I won’t forget Hong Kong and Taiwan, each territory so different. I have enjoyed strolling along the Chinese streets, full of flashy colors and crude lights and I have recently discovered Chinese paintings and calligraphy. Photography wise, I was much more interested in taking pictures of people so we’ll see…

Since I was a teenager, I have been painting. It has to do with memory and shapes as well but my way of painting is different from my way of taking photographs. My paintings are mostly abstract and play on matters and transparency.

My favourite photographers : Paul Strand, Edward Weston, Brassaï, Ara Güler (Istanbul photographs), Josef Sudek, Pentti Sammallahti, Michael Kenna

My favourite painters or sculptors- the list could be long
In a mixted way Picasso et Goya for your absoluty freedom, Velasquez, Zurbaran , Barcelo, Monet , Degas, Rembrandt, Giacometti ( painter and sculptor), Le Titien, Kiefer, Van Gogh, portraits of Fayoum, Rodin (the man walking, the female body).