INTERVIEW AT GALERIE PATRICK REYGADE

A Conversation About Photography, Light, and Japan

In May 2026, Galerie Patrick Reygade in Marseille hosted an exhibition conceived around two bodies of photographic work, two spaces and, ultimately, two approaches that respond to one another.

On the ground floor was presented 「ラッセラー、ラッセラー!」Rassera, Rassera!, a photographic narrative created in 2023. In the gallery’s basement, a retrospective offered an opportunity to discover a body of work specifically devoted to light, its movements, and the transformations it brings about in our perception of reality, like a print or a calligraphic work.

On the occasion of this exhibition, Nathalie Petitjean Ozog, Artistic Director of Galerie Patrick Reygade, invited me to take part in an interview about my photographic practice.

This conversation deliberately goes beyond the subject of the works on display. It provides an opportunity to explore my deep relationship with photography, considered not simply as a tool for representing the world, but as a medium through which to offer another vision of it.

What interests me in an image is not so much reproducing what the eye sees, but rather attempting to reveal a more inner dimension. Framing, movement, light and abstraction allow photography to become a form of graphic writing. My desire is for it to be capable of translating ineffable sensations: an energy, a vibration, a feeling, an emotion, something like a breath. In fact, more simply, something that moves behind the appearance of the things we see and allows the image to be inscribed within other temporalities.

The interview also brings to light a connection with my practice of aikido and my knowledge of Japan. Without seeking to establish a systematic or theoretical relationship between these different fields, certain correspondences emerge naturally: the relationship to movement, to distance from things, to a highly centered sense of temporality, to energy, to emptiness, to the circulation of forces and spaces, as well as this attentiveness to what is not visible.

This interview offers a rare opportunity to put words to these connections and to evoke what sometimes lies behind the construction of my images.

I invite you to discover this conversation with Nathalie Petitjean Ozog, recorded at Galerie Patrick Reygade in Marseille on the occasion of the May 2026 exhibition.

ラッセラー、ラッセラー!SOLO EXHIBITION MARSEILLE

ラッセラー、ラッセラー! Photo story from Nebuta to Tōkyō 2023

ラッセラー、ラッセラー!

E X P O S I T I O N   S O L O

7 〜 MAY 17, 2026

I’m delighted to invite you to this solo exhibition at Galerie Patrick Reygade in Marseille, opening on Thursday May 7 at 6.30pm.

The photographic story [ラッセラー、ラッセラー!], shot in Tōkyō in October 2023, will be presented for the first time.

In the basement of the gallery, my work on light writing will also be exhibited, along with a photographic installation and a Sound design by Puzzle Persos, for an immersive experience.

Nearly eighty photographs, including some in large portfolios, will be unveiled for this major event in my career as a photographer.

Galerie Patrick Reygade
8 rue Fontange, Marseille 6°

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ラッセラー、ラッセラー!

Pronounce: Lassèlaa, Lassèlaa! 

This cry repeated in unison ラッセラー、ラッセラー! by the costumed dancers (haneto 跳人), who march to the rhythm of the drummers (taiko 太鼓) and those huge, shimmering floats, sustains the momentum, brings the bodies together, and lifts the voices. 

It belongs to the very breath of the Nebuta Matsuri ねぶた祭, where clamor accompanies the movement of luminous figures in the night. 

Derived from the Tsugaru dialect 津軽弁, it is said to mean “Give, Give 出せ、出せ” to request candles, sake and other provisions from the chariot bearers (hikite 曳き手) of Nebuta.

The song and rhythm have preserved the trace of an ancient exhortation; an invitation to join in the enthusiasm of the Nebuta festival, uniting dancers and spectators in a common celebration.

Other hypotheses are also likely, but over time the literal meaning has faded, leaving only the collective pulse.

In these photographs, this rhythm becomes image. Shapes unfold, fragment and recompose themselves in the flow of gesture and light. 

The title, written in Japanese, retains an element of mystery for this exhibition, like a distant echo of the festival. 

It’s not so much a question of translating the oral expression as of feeling the vibration that emanates from it.

ラッセラー、ラッセラー thus evokes shared energy, the repetition that carries movement, the presence of a living memory transmitted through the voice. A simple exclamation turned cadenza, where tradition is transformed into sensitive, playful choreography.

About this photo story

These images were born in the heart of Nakano’s Nebuta Matsuri, in Tōkyō, in October 2023.

Aomori Nebuta Matsuri is a major festival in the Tōhoku region, designated as UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage.  
As a sign of support for this region of northeastern Japan, which was devastated by the great earthquake of 2011, Nakano City Hall has organized its own festival since 2012 under the name “Nakano Festival to Support Tōhoku”, where the Nebuta Matsuri takes place every October.