The black and white shot photographs (2016-2019), part of de Mortemart’s Quest project, portray humans deluged in daily routine, lost in the anonymity of large cities, facing the unknown in search of themselves. The characters are seeking solutions and perhaps answers to the reason for their existence - lost in the universe, without any understanding but with a desire to find a solution with a sentiment of solitude and anxiety in a rapidly changing world. With the belief that we are entering an era of increasing uncertainty where people are losing faith and lacking the answers to dealing with a fractured world, the men and women appearing in Quest are not capable of telling who they are, nor where they come from in a world they hardly understand any longer.
Alexandre de Mortemart (b. 1961) started his photography as a photojournalist in France. Travelling around the world from Japan to India across the United States, and Europe, photography has been his mean of expression since the age of 14. His first professional assignment came in the early 80s for weekly magazines in Japan where he resided for five years. Upon returning to Paris he started collaborations with French newspapers Le Figaro, Liberation, Le Monde, magazines Elle, Vogue, l’Egoiste among others till the mid 90s when he ventured into cinema and started directing short and documentary movies. Alexandre de Mortemart work has been reviewed and featured by international critique and exhibited in France, Japan, United States, including the Aperture Gallery (New York) and the Galerie Agathe Gaillard (Paris), amongst others. He was recently awarded the Lensculture Black and White prize and now lives between London, Calcutta and Paris.