CHAPILLON Clément

Promise me a Land

France

2018Jury Artist

Series displayed in Paris-Est station (partnership with Gares & Connexions)

In The Book of Genesis, “Adam”, the name given to Man, comes from adama, also the name in several Semitic languages for the clay that was used to both shape him and his home. The connections of human beings to their land are deep and complex, but rarely as extreme than in Israel-Palestine. After seventy years of conflict and more than a century of coexistence, willing or forced, the attachment from the inhabitants to their land keeps growing. How did this attachment impact their identity? What are the hopes, the dreams, the promises? Clément Chapillon presents us with a photographic tale that explores our attachment to the land, without clichés, nor ideologies. This is a personal testimony that takes a more human look on the matter of Israel, Palestine, and their roots.

About the artist

Clément Chapillon was born in 1982. He lives and works in Paris, France. He has been fond of photography since he was a teenager. He left his job in a communication agency to enter the École des Gobelins, France. Since 2016, he conducted a more documentary work dedicated to Israel and Palestinian territories, which was shown at the Voix Off festival in Arles and at the Tbilisi Festival in Georgia. Clément Chapillon was awarded the Leica prize and his work was displayed in the Leica galleries in Paris and Milan in 2018.