Visions. Jean-Dominique Burton

Covering fifty years of photography over 4 continents, Visions provides a retrospective of the work of the internationally renowned Belgian photographer, Jean-Dominique Burton.
From the banks of the River Ganges to the Vodou priests in Benin, not forgetting his own native Belgium, Jean-Dominique Burton has dedicated his life to revealing the beauty and the wealth of often ancient, ancestral cultures in his pictures, through which he encourages a form of transmission. As an award-winning portrait painter, he always approaches his subjects as women and men, in a positive way, through their expressions, smiles and occasionally their scars. "I am the opposite of a war photographer, but there is no real word for that"
Visions presents excerpts from some of his best-known work, alongside previously unpublished pictures, all exceptional pieces. This compelling compilation is an invitation to meet traditional chiefs from Burkina Faso, as well as European artists, Tibetans in exile, Beninese hunters now involved in protecting their environment, together with master crystal blowers from Liège, Laotian pilgrims, and many others. His subjects make up thousands of people, unknown but connected to each other through a coherence that is as much artistic as it is human. It is this sense of dignity towards his subjects that lies at the heart of the author's photographic approach.

This 396-page retrospective takes us across the planet to some astonishing places, inviting us to discover a world, whose beauty and richness can be found in the human beings who inhabit it. It offers us an opportunity to marvel, through the eyes, the Visions, of Jean-Dominique Burton.

50 années de photographies sur 4 continents. Visions est une rétrospective des travaux de Jean-Dominique Burton, photographe belge de renommée internationale.

Des rives du Gange aux Vodounons béninois, sans jamais oublier sa Belgique natale, l'auteur a dédié sa vie à révéler, par ses images, la beauté et la richesse de cultures, souvent ancestrales, et à en favoriser la transmission. Portraitiste primé à de multiples reprises, c'est par les femmes et les hommes qu'il aborde ses sujets, toujours de manière positive, par leurs regards, leurs sourires, leurs cicatrices parfois. « Je suis l'inverse d'un photographe de guerre, mais il n'y a pas vraiment de mot pour cela ».

Dans Visions, des extraits de ses ouvrages les plus connus côtoient des images encore inédites, exceptionnelles elles aussi. Le livre nous invite à la rencontre de chefs traditionnels du Burkina Faso, d'artistes européens, d'exilés tibétains, de chasseurs béninois devenus protecteurs de leur environnement, de maîtres souffleurs de cristal liégeois ou encore, parmi tant de visages, de pèlerins laotiens. Des milliers d'inconnus, liés les
uns aux autres par la cohérence, autant artistique qu'humaine, qui constitue le coeur de l'approche photographique de l'auteur : leur dignité.

Les travaux de Jean-Dominique Burton ont été exposés dans le monde entier. Dans des galeries et musées de Paris, Berlin, Bruxelles, Anvers, Hong Kong, New York ou San Francisco. On les retrouve aussi dans de grandes collections publiques et privées. C'est cependant toujours là où les photos ont été prises que Jean-Dominique Burton les expose pour la première fois. Exposées en plein air, dans les centres-villes de Ouagadougou, Dakar ou Kinshasa, imprimées sur des bâches, que les passants approchent, touchent et s'approprient. C'est une part essentielle de son travail, qui lui a valu le soutien de fondations et d'institutions de premier ordre dont l'UNESCO, Wallonie-Bruxelles International, l'OIF et La Fondation Zinsou.

Cette rétrospective de 396 ou 408 pages nous emmène à travers notre planète, dans des lieux souvent surprenants, à la découverte d'un monde beau, riche des êtres humains qui l'habitent. Elle nous invite à nous en émerveiller. Ce sont les Visions de Jean-Dominique Burton.

Covering fifty years of photography over 4 continents, Visions provides a retrospective of the work of the internationally renowned Belgian photographer, Jean-Dominique Burton.
From the banks of the River Ganges to the Vodou priests in Benin, not forgetting his own native Belgium, Jean-Dominique Burton has dedicated his life to revealing the beauty and the wealth of often ancient, ancestral cultures in his pictures, through which he encourages a form of transmission. As an award-winning portrait painter, he always approaches his subjects as women and men, in a positive way, through their expressions, smiles and occasionally their scars. "I am the opposite of a war photographer, but there is no real word for that"
Visions presents excerpts from some of his best-known work, alongside previously unpublished pictures, all exceptional pieces. This compelling compilation is an invitation to meet traditional chiefs from Burkina Faso, as well as European artists, Tibetans in exile, Beninese hunters now involved in protecting their environment, together with master crystal blowers from Liège, Laotian pilgrims, and many others. His subjects make up thousands of people, unknown but connected to each other through a coherence that is as much artistic as it is human. It is this sense of dignity towards his subjects that lies at the heart of the author's photographic approach.

This 396-page retrospective takes us across the planet to some astonishing places, inviting us to discover a world, whose beauty and richness can be found in the human beings who inhabit it. It offers us an opportunity to marvel, through the eyes, the Visions, of Jean-Dominique Burton.

Jean-Dominique Burton's work has been exhibited all over the world, in galleries and museums in Paris, Berlin, Brussels, Antwerp, Hong Kong, New York and San Francisco. They can also be found in major public and private collections. However, it is always where the photographs were originally taken that Jean-Dominique Burton chooses to exhibit them first. Exhibited in the open air, in the city centres of Ouagadougou, Dakar and Kinshasa, his photographs are printed on tarpaulin boards that passers-by can approach, touch and appropriate for themselves. This essential ingredient in his approach has won him the support of leading foundations and institutions including UNESCO, Wallonia-Brussels International, the International Francophone Organisation and the Zinsou Foundation.