Guillaume
Zuili

Guillaume Zuili

biography

French-American photographer, represented by VU’ agency since 1992 and by Clémentine de la Féronnière gallery since 2016, lives and works mainly in Los Angeles (California, the USA).

Guillaume Zuili makes his first journey in India when he was 21 years old. Fascinated by the former french trading posts, he begins there a black and white photographic work to unveil their nostalgic atmosphere. This long-term project (1986-1995) leads up to two books – ” Les anciens comptoirs français de l’Inde” C*D Publishing, 1992; and “Pondicherry”, Le Chêne publishing, 2003 – and reveals a certain vision of photography: the one which evokes, which transmits sensations, moments, tones.

In 1996, Guillaume Zuili asserts his own universe, which is definitely urban. He travels, questions, explores both cities such as Paris, Berlin, Moscow, Prague, Lisbon, than the photographic techniques which manifest their atmospheres. Through overprints realized at the shoot moment with a photographic chamber, he proposes ” a subjective vision placing the City within a temporality, within an history, within contradictions that become visible only because elements were moved closer by photography ” (Christian Caujolle).

In the 2000s, Los Angeles becomes the territory of his urban and esthetic explorations. Scrutinizing the notions of imprint and sign, questioning the nature of the photographic medium, he mixes techniques while paying a particular attention to prints.  Between full sun and night neons, between iconic representation and grain abstraction, he reveals impressions and attires of a fantasized America which does not exist anymore. In 2017 he publishes “Smoke and Mirrors” (Clémentine de la Féronnière publishing) and offers “a sublimated echo of the space we go through and experiment every day. (…) All is served by material, materials, sensualisms layed down and included in the gelatin, in the sheet, in the successive layers worked by the light” (Christian Caujolle).

Prize-winner of 2017 Camera Clara photo award, his works appear within numerous photographic collections among which those of Marin Karmitz (MK2) and of the Bibliothèque Nationale de France.

Series

Memory Lane, 2020

In this Serie, Guillaume Zuili confront himself to a new urban territory : Corbeil-Essones. Invited by “L’Oeil Urbain”, which each spring brings together the great names of contemporary photography, he is in residence for the year 2019.

Once upon a time in Le Perche, 2019

On the invitation of Christine Ollier, Guillaume Zuili came to Perche, in Normandy, to participate in the Champ des Impossibles residency.

Urban Jungle, 2018

I've been living in Los Angeles since 2002. A megapole I photograph every day and which never ceases to amaze me. It is not a single entity but several cities stuck together, as it expands horizontally.

Harbor City, Los Angeles, 2016

Guillaume Zuili continues his work in the footsteps of the American myth he has tirelessly immortalized for over fifteen years in the neighborhoods of Los Angeles: Harbor City, Wilmington or San Pedro.

National Park of Joshua Tree, 2016

The national Park of Joshua Tree is located in the south-east of California. It is the home of two distinct desert ecosystems: the Colorado Desert and the Mojave Desert.

Paris’s Streets, 2015

By rediscovering his native city, Guillaume Zuili gives us a poetic look at the tumult of Paris. A poetry which, if it refers to the Baudelaireian spleen, also borrows from the old-fashioned charm of novels and Polar movies.

L.A Cruising, 2014

"Endless driving is one of the peculiarities of Los Angeles". Queen of this megalopolis where everything is made for it, the car can even be the perfect tool to explore the urban environment.

Yekaterinburg Constructivism, 2013

In September 2013, the G20 meeting was held in the city of St. Petersburg. On this occasion, the Russian National Wews Agency RIA NOVOSTI commissioned twenty internationally renowned photographers (each from one of the G20 countries) to produce a report on Russia.

Smoke & Mirrors, 2011

Serie | To impress these complex sentiments that combine contemplation and decoding, comprehension and reverie, Guillaume Zuili resorts to the most photographic aspect in image production: the print.

Scrapmetal, 2010

Serie | Ten kilometers from the first town, at the end of a dirty road, an open-air junkyard is the last place of residence for the past jewels of the American automobile industry, which are already nothing more than heaps of metal.

Bakersfield Oil County, 2008

Serie | Located two hours north of Los Angeles, between Mojave desert and Sequoia Park. Bakersfield is known for being the champion of agriculture but above all for its oil supply.

The over-exposed city, 2006

Serie | Through the series "The over-exposed city” Guillaume Zuili questions the complexity of cities through their history and architecture.

Memory Lane, 2020

In this Serie, Guillaume Zuili confront himself to a new urban territory : Corbeil-Essones. Invited by “L’Oeil Urbain”, which each spring brings together the great names of contemporary photography, he is in residence for the year 2019.

Once upon a time in Le Perche, 2019

On the invitation of Christine Ollier, Guillaume Zuili came to Perche, in Normandy, to participate in the Champ des Impossibles residency.

Urban Jungle, 2018

I've been living in Los Angeles since 2002. A megapole I photograph every day and which never ceases to amaze me. It is not a single entity but several cities stuck together, as it expands horizontally.

Harbor City, Los Angeles, 2016

Guillaume Zuili continues his work in the footsteps of the American myth he has tirelessly immortalized for over fifteen years in the neighborhoods of Los Angeles: Harbor City, Wilmington or San Pedro.

National Park of Joshua Tree, 2016

The national Park of Joshua Tree is located in the south-east of California. It is the home of two distinct desert ecosystems: the Colorado Desert and the Mojave Desert.

Paris’s Streets, 2015

By rediscovering his native city, Guillaume Zuili gives us a poetic look at the tumult of Paris. A poetry which, if it refers to the Baudelaireian spleen, also borrows from the old-fashioned charm of novels and Polar movies.

L.A Cruising, 2014

"Endless driving is one of the peculiarities of Los Angeles". Queen of this megalopolis where everything is made for it, the car can even be the perfect tool to explore the urban environment.

Yekaterinburg Constructivism, 2013

In September 2013, the G20 meeting was held in the city of St. Petersburg. On this occasion, the Russian National Wews Agency RIA NOVOSTI commissioned twenty internationally renowned photographers (each from one of the G20 countries) to produce a report on Russia.

Smoke & Mirrors, 2011

Serie | To impress these complex sentiments that combine contemplation and decoding, comprehension and reverie, Guillaume Zuili resorts to the most photographic aspect in image production: the print.

Scrapmetal, 2010

Serie | Ten kilometers from the first town, at the end of a dirty road, an open-air junkyard is the last place of residence for the past jewels of the American automobile industry, which are already nothing more than heaps of metal.

Bakersfield Oil County, 2008

Serie | Located two hours north of Los Angeles, between Mojave desert and Sequoia Park. Bakersfield is known for being the champion of agriculture but above all for its oil supply.

The over-exposed city, 2006

Serie | Through the series "The over-exposed city” Guillaume Zuili questions the complexity of cities through their history and architecture.

Memory Lane, 2020

In this Serie, Guillaume Zuili confront himself to a new urban territory : Corbeil-Essones. Invited by “L’Oeil Urbain”, which each spring brings together the great names of contemporary photography, he is in residence for the year 2019.

Once upon a time in Le Perche, 2019

On the invitation of Christine Ollier, Guillaume Zuili came to Perche, in Normandy, to participate in the Champ des Impossibles residency.

Urban Jungle, 2018

I've been living in Los Angeles since 2002. A megapole I photograph every day and which never ceases to amaze me. It is not a single entity but several cities stuck together, as it expands horizontally.

Harbor City, Los Angeles, 2016

Guillaume Zuili continues his work in the footsteps of the American myth he has tirelessly immortalized for over fifteen years in the neighborhoods of Los Angeles: Harbor City, Wilmington or San Pedro.

National Park of Joshua Tree, 2016

The national Park of Joshua Tree is located in the south-east of California. It is the home of two distinct desert ecosystems: the Colorado Desert and the Mojave Desert.

Paris’s Streets, 2015

By rediscovering his native city, Guillaume Zuili gives us a poetic look at the tumult of Paris. A poetry which, if it refers to the Baudelaireian spleen, also borrows from the old-fashioned charm of novels and Polar movies.

L.A Cruising, 2014

"Endless driving is one of the peculiarities of Los Angeles". Queen of this megalopolis where everything is made for it, the car can even be the perfect tool to explore the urban environment.

Yekaterinburg Constructivism, 2013

In September 2013, the G20 meeting was held in the city of St. Petersburg. On this occasion, the Russian National Wews Agency RIA NOVOSTI commissioned twenty internationally renowned photographers (each from one of the G20 countries) to produce a report on Russia.

Smoke & Mirrors, 2011

Serie | To impress these complex sentiments that combine contemplation and decoding, comprehension and reverie, Guillaume Zuili resorts to the most photographic aspect in image production: the print.

Scrapmetal, 2010

Serie | Ten kilometers from the first town, at the end of a dirty road, an open-air junkyard is the last place of residence for the past jewels of the American automobile industry, which are already nothing more than heaps of metal.

Bakersfield Oil County, 2008

Serie | Located two hours north of Los Angeles, between Mojave desert and Sequoia Park. Bakersfield is known for being the champion of agriculture but above all for its oil supply.

The over-exposed city, 2006

Serie | Through the series "The over-exposed city” Guillaume Zuili questions the complexity of cities through their history and architecture.

Interviews

Photographie : Les clairs-obscurs de Guillaume Zuili
Arte
—
2019

The raw material of photographer Guillaume Zuili is film; his long laboratory work leads to fundamentals. Extremely contrasting blacks and whites, grains visible to the naked eye: his images erase the details of the world to keep only a frame, transforming the visible into a play of shapes and lines, of high and low lights.

Solarisation
Centre culturel Bellegrade & Espace Saint-Cyprien
—
2015

Guillaume Zuili’s works evaluated at the Espace Saint-Cyprien as well as at the Bellegarde cultural center show that from its beginnings, his photographic work has never ceased to question the memory of cities.

 

Urban exposure
Galerie Fabien Castanier
—
2012

“ Using a very unique photographic process, Guillaume Zuili creates one of a kind prints. He begins by cutting his negatives and taking only what interests him, taping them together to create a new negative. “

 

 

Traces de ville
Agence VU’ & La Fémis
—
A film directed by Joachim Lepastier, 2006

City tracks (Traces de ville) is a film that invites us to wander around Paris through semi-photographic or semi-cinematographic shots by Guillaume Zuili. Still shots that look like photographic superimpositions lead us into a unique visual experience

 

 

 

Exhibitions

Walking In The Lines
–
6th edition of the Rencontres photographiques de Via Silva, Cesson
–
From May 25 to August 25, 2023

More information

Memory Lane
–
L’Œil Urbain, Corbeil-Essonnes (FRANCE)
–
From October 2 to November 29, 2020

More information

Harbor City, Los Angeles
–
MAP, Toulouse (FRANCE)
–
From May 3 to 19, 2019

More information

Smoke & Mirrors
–
L’Œil Urbain, Corbeil-Essonnes (FRANCE)
–
From April 7 to May 20, 2018

More information

books

Et bientôt l'obscurité

Et bientôt l'obscurité - 2023

Rencontre Guillaume Zuili - Christine Ollier

Le Champs des Impossibles & Filigranes - 2021

Memory Lane

Harmonia Mundi - 2020

Rencontre

Filigranes Éditions - Le champ des impossibles - 2019

Smoke & Mirrors

Clémentine de la Feronniere - 2017

Pondichéry

Éditions du Chêne - 2003

Les anciens comptoirs français de l’Inde

Édition Culture & Developpement - 1992

Et bientôt l'obscurité

Et bientôt l'obscurité - 2023

Rencontre Guillaume Zuili - Christine Ollier

Le Champs des Impossibles & Filigranes - 2021

Memory Lane

Harmonia Mundi - 2020

Rencontre

Filigranes Éditions - Le champ des impossibles - 2019

Smoke & Mirrors

Clémentine de la Feronniere - 2017

Pondichéry

Éditions du Chêne - 2003

Les anciens comptoirs français de l’Inde

Édition Culture & Developpement - 1992

Et bientôt l'obscurité

Et bientôt l'obscurité - 2023

Rencontre Guillaume Zuili - Christine Ollier

Le Champs des Impossibles & Filigranes - 2021

Memory Lane

Harmonia Mundi - 2020

Rencontre

Filigranes Éditions - Le champ des impossibles - 2019

Smoke & Mirrors

Clémentine de la Feronniere - 2017

Pondichéry

Éditions du Chêne - 2003

Les anciens comptoirs français de l’Inde

Édition Culture & Developpement - 1992

awards

Print Award of the Florence & Damien Bachelot Collection

2021

Camera Clara Photo Prize

2017