Birds represent freedom in almost every field of art. Not belonging to one place, being able to go to another place whenever they want, and most importantly, being able to fly. We think they’re free just because they don’t measure distance in steps as humans do. However, their lives also pass in certain routines. People live on the same piece of land and leave it to new generations over and over again, but birds adapt to the world by constantly moving between the same regions. Nobody is telling them to migrate. No one tells them to suddenly leave their place and go to a new one and come back when the time is right. Birds also belong to certain places; as you watch them, it becomes easier to understand their behavior. French photographer Edouard Taufenbach captures the dance of swallows in the air with his camera while observing their migration twice a year. They cross the Mediterranean and Sahara to reach Europe, and sub-Saharan Africa, its infinite loop because this is their way of belonging to places.

Seeing the movement of birds in the simplicity of the sky also includes clues about their anatomy and routines. At the same time, Edouard Taufenbach creates a new story and narrative by putting the moments he captured side by side. Considering that each bird is living their life and doing it in their own cycle, it is possible to see that each of them tells their own story.

The photos combined in grid format compress multiple moments into a single frame. Sometimes it brings different birds and sometimes the same one in a single frame. Although each of them belongs to a different time, they meet in one composition. Since swallows do not fly linearly, these flows float in the air like the hand gestures of an orchestra conductor.

Edouard Taufenbach photographs’ meets Régis Campo’s composition: Le Blue du Ciel

Edouard Taufenbach collaborates with composer Régis Campo to sign the Le Blue du Ciel project at The Swiss Life 4-Hand Prize, held every two years. The winners of the year 2020, the duo, exhibited their work at Galerie Thierry Bigaignon between February 2-16. Birds in Edouard Taufenbach’s photographs turned into notes for Régis Campo and composed these flows. As Campo got the chance to transfer a new language to music because it went beyond the usual materials, the medium that expresses itself with its silence like photography gained a voice.

Edouard Taufenbach, a professional photographer since 2014, initially had a desire to work as an editor and was not inclined to produce his own photographs. He started to produce compositions with what he learned through calculations, education, framing knowledge, and repetitions. Taufenbach produces images with both official and fictional potential. Bastien Pourtout joined his studio in 2018 to help Edouard Taufenbach. And while supporting the creation processes of “Speculaire” (2018-2019), La “Méthode” (2020), one of the photographer’s current works, he also played a role in the creation of Le Blue du Ciel. Bastien Pourtout and Edouard Taufenbach have started working as duo artists in 2020 and are now walking together on their art journey.

You can check Edouard Taufenbach’s work on Instagram and his website.