At the intersection between image-making and performance, Tristan Lajarrige’s work currently explores the responsibility associated with documenting our lives through photography. In an era where our attention is constantly focused on snapping pictures, he investigates how the sense of obligation to photograph every memorable moment prevents us from living them to the fullest. In recent projects, such as Grounding Piece (2023) and Famous Tourist Attractions (2022–2023), he aimed to interfere with the influence of the camera through subversive, satirical, and absurd performances, favoring an experience where photographic documentation becomes secondary and noninvasive. Following pre-written instructions, these performances are privately executed and documented through photographs taken from a fixed position and automatically shot at regular intervals, resulting in the exhaustion of the batteries of the camera. By adopting a systematic and automated approach, he renounces responsibility for the camera and can thus experience various sites without technological distraction, killing the device in the process. Presented in grids or diptychs, the photographic residue of the performances is printed at a large scale and displayed next to the instructions that guided its creation.
Tristan Lajarrige is a conceptual artist working and living between Tiohtiá:ke/Montréal and Los Angeles. He holds a MFA from the School of the Museum of Fine Arts at Tufts University (2023) in Boston and a BFA in Photography from Concordia University (2021) in Montréal. His work has been exhibited in Québec and Boston in galleries and artist-run centers such as Emerson Contemporary, Panopticon Gallery, and Gallery 263. In April 2022, his project Hiding Piece (2021) was showcased on an 80-feet-tall LED marquee outside the Boston Convention & Exhibition Center as a public artwork. Additionally, his profile was recently featured in the Boston Globe’s article “Six Art-School Stars to Watch.”
