With his 1970’s song We People Who Are Darker Than Blue, Curtis Mayfield gave a strong voice to the civil rights movement in the United States. The name of Mathieu Bitton’s current project is reminiscent of Mayfield’s protest song and follows the line of the singer’s heritage. However, it is not protesters who are at the centre of Bitton photographs: Darker Than Blue focusses on the every-day life of AfroAmericans, passersby in metropolises from New York City to Los Angeles, and in the Bahamas. With quiet dignity, Bitton’s portraits lift his protagonists out of the anonymity of the masses, and awaken memories of the on-going struggle for independence and equality. As far as Bitton is concerned, naturalness is the first commandment. For the photographer, it is always important that no one poses in front of his camera. “People appreciate this type of photography,” he explains. “Even though in 99 percent of the cases, people want to pose, I prefer to capture the moment that comes immediately beforehand.” Because Bitton works with digital, he is able to show the results to his subjects right away. They are nearly always delighted and find it hard to believe that in the future, their portraits will be exhibited in galleries around the world. In his early years, Bitton’s aesthetic sensitivity was defined by Dadaism and Surrealism, inspired by artists such as Marcel Duchamp, Man Ray and Tristan Tzara. However, in 1986, when he was 13, seeing soul-legend Prince play in his hometown of Paris, opened up a particular fascination for music and its role in the black community. A short while later he would come into close contact with it: after moving to the USA when he was 14, Bitton found his way into show business. Because of Bitton’s discreet approach as a photographer, he was appreciated in the field, documenting life on tour with the likes of late-night talker
Dave Chappelle or rock legend Lenny Kravitz, and many other pop culture icons of style. In contrast to the colourful life on stage, Darker Than Blue makes use of a discretion that is practically analytical: the photographer draws intense character studies of Afro-American citizens, asking the question about what might be hidden below the surface. Bitton’s passion for music is not only noticeable in the title of his project: a large part of the images are portraits of celebrities from the music scene, such as Gary Clark Jr., Herbie Hancock, and producer Quincy Jones. Quite unconventionally, Bitton draws attention to the musicians’ hands, photographing them during concerts, performances or regular photo shoots. For example, the photo of Quincy Jones shows a ring bequeathed to him by Frank Sinatra in memory of their friendship. In many cases, Bitton considers that hands are expressive and tell more than faces do, because hands are key to revealing the achievements, the work ethics and, in fact, the life of the person being photographed. Hands as a mirror of the soul – at first, this rather unusual approach to portrait photography challenges the viewer’s cognitive ability. It is soon obvious however, that each hand has its own story to tell: from the tough and rugged hands of a worker, to the finger and wrist jewellery of prominent figures, Bitton has photographed dozens of hands, revealing himself as a meticulous observer of his surroundings. Of course, his favourite camera, the Leica M Monochrom, serves him well in this regard. Black and white photography is timeless, as Bitton often likes to exclaim. “Black and white goes deeper, appears stronger. It’s pure energy. There are times when I even wish that my eyes would see in black and white!” The Darker Than Blue project was not even planned as such says Bitton. “When I was putting together my first exhibition of nudes at the Leica Gallery in Los Angeles, I thought about it for a long time and finally came to the conclusion that this kind of exhibi-
tion was not what I was looking for. When I then browsed through my archives, the idea for Darker Than Blue was quasi unveiled before my eyes. It was as though my subconscious had put the project together.” As though of its own volition, Darker Than Blue transforms the everyday into something enthralling, and as a result, is more political than one might at first imagine. Bitton sees the project as a time machine with tunnel vision, where the past and present harmonize, regardless of whether good or bad, happy or sad. While the pictures he takes in front of big concert stages capture fleeting moments of euphoria, Darker Than Blue takes a cautious look behind peoples’ at first inconspicuous-seeming façades, with timeless images that sketch an overall picture of a society at the beginning of the 21st century. The reactions of the viewers justify his approach: many visitors to the exhibition thought that they were seeing pictures from the fifties and sixties. Bitton considers this one of the best compliments he could be paid. After the images were seen in Los Angeles and other cities in the US, they finally reached European shores this year, where they will be exhibited at the new section recently built at the Leitz Park in Weztlar, when it is inaugurated on 15 June. This does not however, mean that the project has now been completed. Just as long as Mathieu Bitton’s passion for black and white photography, for the beauty of this world, and for the black community remains, so too Darker Than Blue will continue to evolve. Danilo Rössger
math ie u bitton .f r LFI-On lin e .DE/B log: Mathieu Bitton, One Photo — One Story Equipment: Leica M Monochrom246 with Summicron-M 35 and 50mm f/2 Asph as well as Noctilux-M 50mm f/1; Leica Q, Summilux 28mm f/1.7 Asph
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