Christophe Agou


Christophe Agou was a French documentary photographer and street photographer who lived in New York City. His work has been published in books and is held in public collections. He was a member of the In-Public street photography collective.
WWW christopheagou.com

Biography

Agou was born in Montbrison, France in 1969. A self-taught photographer, Agou grew up in a small town in the Forez region, on the eastern side of the Massif Central.
From the early 1990s, Agou made documentary-style photographs in both black and white and color which take an allusive approach to the human condition. He also made short films and sculpture. In 1992, he moved to New York City. He began taking photographs in the streets that evoked a sense of longing and isolation. He made photographs at Ground Zero on September 11th, 2001, which were used in numerous publications. He first came to prominence with photographs taken in the New York City Subway, published in his book Life Below.
In 2002 Agou returned to Forez. He traveled to the lesser-known parts of the region and got to know a community of family farmers whose identities are deeply rooted to the land. He photographed and filmed them at work and at home for eight years. This resulted in Face au Silence / In the Face of Silence, a documentary about rural life in early twenty-first century France. The work won him the 2010 European Publishers Award for Photography, and publication in six editions and in six languages.
He became a member of the In-Public street photography collective in 2005.
Agou died in September 2015 of cancer.

Publications

Publications by Agou

  • Life Below: The New York City Subway. New York: Quantuck Lane Press, 2004..
  • Face au Silence. Text by John Berger.
  • *Face au Silence. Arles: Actes Sud, 2010..
  • *In the Face of Silence. Stockport: Dewi Lewis, 2011..
  • *Aπέναντι Στη Σιωπή. Apeiron Photos, 2011..
  • *Ante el Silencio. Barcelona: Lunwerg Editores, 2011..
  • *Gesichter der Stille. Berlin: Edition Braus, 2011..
  • *Di Fronte al Silenzio. Rome: Peliti Associati, 2011..
  • Les Faits Secondaires. Christophe Agou, 2013.. Texts by Agou and John Berger. Poems by. Edition of 700 copies.

Publications with contributions by Agou

Films

Films by Agou

  • ''Face au Silence = In the Face of Silence''

Films with Agou

Exhibitions

Solo exhibitions

Group exhibitions

  • in-public @ 10, Photofusion, Brixton, London, May–July 2010. Travelled to Les Ballades Photographiques de Seyssel, Seyssel, France, 12–23 July 2011, where it also included the film In-Sight and The French exhibition by Nick Turpin. Included photographs by In-Public members.
  • Street Photography Now, Third Floor Gallery, Cardiff, October–November 2010. Photographs from the book Street Photography Now.
  • 2015: The Sharp Eye. In-Public in Mexico, Foto Mexico, Cine Tonalá, Mexico City, Mexico, October–November 2015. Slideshow of photographs.

Awards

Collections

Agou's work is held in the following public collections: