Rip
Hopkins

Rip Hopkins

biographY

British photographer, member of Agence VU’ since 1996, represented by the galleries Le Réverbère (Lyon) and LT2, lives and works mainly in Brussels (Belgium).

A graduate of the Ecole Nationale Supérieure de Création Industrielle (ENSCI) in Paris, Rip Hopkins begins his photographic career in collaboration with Médecins Sans Frontières, for whom he realizes photographic reports and documentaries about endangered populations around the world for almost 10 years. At the same time, he carries out more personal documentary projects, notably on Gypsies in Europe, Uzbekistan and Tajikistan, for which he receives numerous distinctions (Ilford Prize, Kodak Prize for young photoreporter, HSBC Prize, Fiacre Grant, Scam Prize, etc.).

In constant search for challenges, Rip Hopkins is looking for new spaces of expression closer to him, first in France and then in Belgium. With ordinary and a priori banal subjects as a starting point, he explores with humour and poetry the possibilities and surprises of photography: he questions the limits of social representations, plays with staging and sometimes even immerse himself into them to plunge in the reality of others and reduce the distance between the photographer and his models.

Renewing the form of visual investigations of reality, his atypical style is at the point where documentary photography meets artistic expression, and is distinguished by a great sensitivity to colours, materials, and everything that makes up a “decor” that he invests in such a way as to place the human being – model and spectator – at the heart of his work. He thus shows galleries of mischievous and playful portraits either of the descendants of the beheaded of the French Revolution (« La Révolution en héritage »), or of the Mansonnians and their particular link to the horse (« Chevaleresque »), of the British settled in the Périgord (« Another Country »), of the contemporary Belgian aristocracy (« Belgian Blue Blood »), of the Canadian identity (« Canada Canada », at the invitation of the French Embassy and on the occasion of the 150th anniversary of Canada)…

Author of 11 monographs, Rip Hopkins is regularly exhibited. His works are part of prestigious public and private collections such as those of the Guerlain Foundation (France), the HSBC Foundation (France), LaSalle Bank (USA), the Musée de lʼElysée (Lausanne), the Musée d’Orsay (Paris), the Centre Pompidou (Paris), the Centre National d’audiovisuel (Luxembourg), the Fonds régional dʼart contemporain dʼIle de France and the Fonds national dʼart contemporain (France) .

SEries

Canada Canada, 2017

For a European like me in Canada for the first time, everything looks like a film set or as if it has just stepped out of a scenario.

Belgian Blue Blood, 2016

The portrait of the aristocrat is an art that is practiced less and less. In literature, in cinema, in the visual arts, apart from a few rare specimens, one cannot say that the subject is of interest.

Portraits de Familles (Fnac Studio), 2012

During the « Studio Fnac » operation, Rip Hopkins met and photographed several families who entered into the spirit of the game by letting themselves be staged.

Horsey Horsey, 2012

Through this series of portraits, Rip Hopkins reveals how the inhabitants of Maisons-Laffitte, a French city historically linked to horses, perceive and take on the imagery of the horse in their fantasy.

Extra-ordinary, 2012

series| Rip Hopkins went to meet shopkeepers and professionals who have a doorstep.

Sept fois à terre, huit fois debout, 2011

For its 40th anniversary, MSF (Doctors Without Borders) gave Rip Hopkins a carte blanche. He invites about sixty personalities from the world of art and culture...

An age of iron and concrete, 2010

series | Something happened when Rip Hopkins went to Musée de la Préhistoire, the most unknown, the less accessible, the most 'ancient' in France.

Another Country – the British in France, 2010

Rip Hopkins’ 68 portraits provide a record that is both personal and objective, showing the real and imaginary world of British expats in France.

The Revolution as a Legacy, 2009

Descendants of the French Revolution's beheaded.

Mode, 2009

Haute couture and acrobatics mix to give this series an aerial aspect. Rip Hopkins gives models and their outfits, a grace that sublimate them.

Rip la France, 2008

“Rip La France” is a style exercise. Each picture is taken and constructed in a way of a cinematographic work.

Romanian Rip (Timisoara), 2008

Timisoara is the town from where started the Romanian revolution in December 1989. Twenty years later, it enters, with its country, in the European community...

Cooking Alchemists, 2007

This work is the fruit of the encounter between the Cook Pierre Gagnaire and the chemist Hervé This over the written work of Nicolas Bonnefons, Louis XIV's servant...

Succeed or Die, 2007

Rip Hopkins spent ten days in Behren-lès-Forbach, the poorest of the 500 poorest cities in France, according to a study by the Ministry of the City...

Haute Couture, 2007

It's all about the autumn-winter 2008 haute couture collections presented in Paris this summer. At the Orangerie de Versailles, Dior is showing paintings by the great masters and courtesans of the court of Louis XIV.

Muses d’Orsay, 2006

Muses d’Orsay series is my response to a commission from the Musée d’Orsay asking me to photograph the museum’s employees in their place of work.

Too Late!, 2006

I tried to leave Paris and lived for two years in the countryside. This series of photographs is the product of what I felt each time I came to Paris during this period.

Essays, 2005

I made this series of photographs around the given theme : Bordeaux and the Bordelais – Eating, drinking, thinking.

Anonymous Paris, 2005

In France a photographer has to have written autorisation from the person photographed to publish his image. Without this the photographer can be sued for damages.

Bukhara Babe, 2004

Knicknamed Holy Bukhara, Noble Bukhara, Dome of Islam, Religion’s Pillar, Mind’s Beauty, Bukhara was the city of fire worshipers and the centre of the Persian rennaissance and Islamic science.

Rigas Circus, 2003

Built in 1888 and unchanged since, Riga Circus is the world's oldest hard top circus still standing in its original form. Latvia's first film projections were held here in 1889 and the Circus has never stopped its shows throughout the country's tumultuous history.

Otkritki, 2003

Otkritki, which means postcard in Russian, is the product of three trips to Uzbekistan over the past three years.

Home & Away, Uzbekistan, 2002

Uzbekistan is a Soviet invention. Before the Russian Revolution of 1917, Uzbeks usually identified themselves ethnically as either nomad or sart (settled), as Turk or Persian, as simply Muslim or by their clan. Later separate nationalities were identified by Soviet scholars as ordered by Stalin.

Tadjikistan, tissage, 2001

I've been taking photographs since I was ten years old. Photography from the start was something magical for me, transferring reality onto paper with my own hands. It gradually became a record of time, then a tool for describing my version of reality to others.

Strange Days, Czech Republic, 2000

Usti nad Labem is an industrial town situated in the north of the Czech Republic against the German border.

Bishop’s Madness, 1999

According to these employees, the number of patients during this period fell from one hundred and twenty-two to seventy-seven : forty five deaths when the yearly average was nine.

Outlaws, 1999

The Irish State has long seen the Traveller's existence as a problem. The local authorities try to assimilate them into society by giving them housing and education, assaulting and meat mincing them to a point where Travelers are ambiguous about their own identity.

Dallas (Romania), 1998

The Romanian Roma community is the world's largest. Amongst Romania's 23 million inhabitants the government estimates it's Roma population aas being 400,000, but a more realistic figure would be around 2 million.

Amazon Burning, 1997

Ecuador is one of the largest oil producing countries in South America. Lago Agrio is it's principal oil town - it's ‘black gold’ capital.

After Paradise, 1997

Liberia has been totally destroyed by 7 years of civil war. The majority of its infrastructures are reduced to rubble, and health and education services are non-existent.

500 coups, 1996

Due to Madagascar's social structure and the disastrous state of it's economy (ranked amongst the world's poorest countries), more and more children have no choice but to live in the street.

Nimulé, 1995

Why do you say South Sudan? Why are you telling me things that I don’t understand, that I don’t know, that I’ve never heard of? More refugees, more displaced people, war again, weapons, children in distress.

Canada Canada, 2017

For a European like me in Canada for the first time, everything looks like a film set or as if it has just stepped out of a scenario.

Belgian Blue Blood, 2016

The portrait of the aristocrat is an art that is practiced less and less. In literature, in cinema, in the visual arts, apart from a few rare specimens, one cannot say that the subject is of interest.

Portraits de Familles (Fnac Studio), 2012

During the « Studio Fnac » operation, Rip Hopkins met and photographed several families who entered into the spirit of the game by letting themselves be staged.

Horsey Horsey, 2012

Through this series of portraits, Rip Hopkins reveals how the inhabitants of Maisons-Laffitte, a French city historically linked to horses, perceive and take on the imagery of the horse in their fantasy.

Extra-ordinary, 2012

series| Rip Hopkins went to meet shopkeepers and professionals who have a doorstep.

Sept fois à terre, huit fois debout, 2011

For its 40th anniversary, MSF (Doctors Without Borders) gave Rip Hopkins a carte blanche. He invites about sixty personalities from the world of art and culture...

An age of iron and concrete, 2010

series | Something happened when Rip Hopkins went to Musée de la Préhistoire, the most unknown, the less accessible, the most 'ancient' in France.

Another Country – the British in France, 2010

Rip Hopkins’ 68 portraits provide a record that is both personal and objective, showing the real and imaginary world of British expats in France.

The Revolution as a Legacy, 2009

Descendants of the French Revolution's beheaded.

Mode, 2009

Haute couture and acrobatics mix to give this series an aerial aspect. Rip Hopkins gives models and their outfits, a grace that sublimate them.

Rip la France, 2008

“Rip La France” is a style exercise. Each picture is taken and constructed in a way of a cinematographic work.

Romanian Rip (Timisoara), 2008

Timisoara is the town from where started the Romanian revolution in December 1989. Twenty years later, it enters, with its country, in the European community...

Cooking Alchemists, 2007

This work is the fruit of the encounter between the Cook Pierre Gagnaire and the chemist Hervé This over the written work of Nicolas Bonnefons, Louis XIV's servant...

Succeed or Die, 2007

Rip Hopkins spent ten days in Behren-lès-Forbach, the poorest of the 500 poorest cities in France, according to a study by the Ministry of the City...

Haute Couture, 2007

It's all about the autumn-winter 2008 haute couture collections presented in Paris this summer. At the Orangerie de Versailles, Dior is showing paintings by the great masters and courtesans of the court of Louis XIV.

Muses d’Orsay, 2006

Muses d’Orsay series is my response to a commission from the Musée d’Orsay asking me to photograph the museum’s employees in their place of work.

Too Late!, 2006

I tried to leave Paris and lived for two years in the countryside. This series of photographs is the product of what I felt each time I came to Paris during this period.

Essays, 2005

I made this series of photographs around the given theme : Bordeaux and the Bordelais – Eating, drinking, thinking.

Anonymous Paris, 2005

In France a photographer has to have written autorisation from the person photographed to publish his image. Without this the photographer can be sued for damages.

Bukhara Babe, 2004

Knicknamed Holy Bukhara, Noble Bukhara, Dome of Islam, Religion’s Pillar, Mind’s Beauty, Bukhara was the city of fire worshipers and the centre of the Persian rennaissance and Islamic science.

Rigas Circus, 2003

Built in 1888 and unchanged since, Riga Circus is the world's oldest hard top circus still standing in its original form. Latvia's first film projections were held here in 1889 and the Circus has never stopped its shows throughout the country's tumultuous history.

Otkritki, 2003

Otkritki, which means postcard in Russian, is the product of three trips to Uzbekistan over the past three years.

Home & Away, Uzbekistan, 2002

Uzbekistan is a Soviet invention. Before the Russian Revolution of 1917, Uzbeks usually identified themselves ethnically as either nomad or sart (settled), as Turk or Persian, as simply Muslim or by their clan. Later separate nationalities were identified by Soviet scholars as ordered by Stalin.

Tadjikistan, tissage, 2001

I've been taking photographs since I was ten years old. Photography from the start was something magical for me, transferring reality onto paper with my own hands. It gradually became a record of time, then a tool for describing my version of reality to others.

Strange Days, Czech Republic, 2000

Usti nad Labem is an industrial town situated in the north of the Czech Republic against the German border.

Bishop’s Madness, 1999

According to these employees, the number of patients during this period fell from one hundred and twenty-two to seventy-seven : forty five deaths when the yearly average was nine.

Outlaws, 1999

The Irish State has long seen the Traveller's existence as a problem. The local authorities try to assimilate them into society by giving them housing and education, assaulting and meat mincing them to a point where Travelers are ambiguous about their own identity.

Dallas (Romania), 1998

The Romanian Roma community is the world's largest. Amongst Romania's 23 million inhabitants the government estimates it's Roma population aas being 400,000, but a more realistic figure would be around 2 million.

Amazon Burning, 1997

Ecuador is one of the largest oil producing countries in South America. Lago Agrio is it's principal oil town - it's ‘black gold’ capital.

After Paradise, 1997

Liberia has been totally destroyed by 7 years of civil war. The majority of its infrastructures are reduced to rubble, and health and education services are non-existent.

500 coups, 1996

Due to Madagascar's social structure and the disastrous state of it's economy (ranked amongst the world's poorest countries), more and more children have no choice but to live in the street.

Nimulé, 1995

Why do you say South Sudan? Why are you telling me things that I don’t understand, that I don’t know, that I’ve never heard of? More refugees, more displaced people, war again, weapons, children in distress.

Canada Canada, 2017

For a European like me in Canada for the first time, everything looks like a film set or as if it has just stepped out of a scenario.

Belgian Blue Blood, 2016

The portrait of the aristocrat is an art that is practiced less and less. In literature, in cinema, in the visual arts, apart from a few rare specimens, one cannot say that the subject is of interest.

Portraits de Familles (Fnac Studio), 2012

During the « Studio Fnac » operation, Rip Hopkins met and photographed several families who entered into the spirit of the game by letting themselves be staged.

Horsey Horsey, 2012

Through this series of portraits, Rip Hopkins reveals how the inhabitants of Maisons-Laffitte, a French city historically linked to horses, perceive and take on the imagery of the horse in their fantasy.

Extra-ordinary, 2012

series| Rip Hopkins went to meet shopkeepers and professionals who have a doorstep.

Sept fois à terre, huit fois debout, 2011

For its 40th anniversary, MSF (Doctors Without Borders) gave Rip Hopkins a carte blanche. He invites about sixty personalities from the world of art and culture...

An age of iron and concrete, 2010

series | Something happened when Rip Hopkins went to Musée de la Préhistoire, the most unknown, the less accessible, the most 'ancient' in France.

Another Country – the British in France, 2010

Rip Hopkins’ 68 portraits provide a record that is both personal and objective, showing the real and imaginary world of British expats in France.

The Revolution as a Legacy, 2009

Descendants of the French Revolution's beheaded.

Mode, 2009

Haute couture and acrobatics mix to give this series an aerial aspect. Rip Hopkins gives models and their outfits, a grace that sublimate them.

Rip la France, 2008

“Rip La France” is a style exercise. Each picture is taken and constructed in a way of a cinematographic work.

Romanian Rip (Timisoara), 2008

Timisoara is the town from where started the Romanian revolution in December 1989. Twenty years later, it enters, with its country, in the European community...

Cooking Alchemists, 2007

This work is the fruit of the encounter between the Cook Pierre Gagnaire and the chemist Hervé This over the written work of Nicolas Bonnefons, Louis XIV's servant...

Succeed or Die, 2007

Rip Hopkins spent ten days in Behren-lès-Forbach, the poorest of the 500 poorest cities in France, according to a study by the Ministry of the City...

Haute Couture, 2007

It's all about the autumn-winter 2008 haute couture collections presented in Paris this summer. At the Orangerie de Versailles, Dior is showing paintings by the great masters and courtesans of the court of Louis XIV.

Muses d’Orsay, 2006

Muses d’Orsay series is my response to a commission from the Musée d’Orsay asking me to photograph the museum’s employees in their place of work.

Too Late!, 2006

I tried to leave Paris and lived for two years in the countryside. This series of photographs is the product of what I felt each time I came to Paris during this period.

Essays, 2005

I made this series of photographs around the given theme : Bordeaux and the Bordelais – Eating, drinking, thinking.

Anonymous Paris, 2005

In France a photographer has to have written autorisation from the person photographed to publish his image. Without this the photographer can be sued for damages.

Bukhara Babe, 2004

Knicknamed Holy Bukhara, Noble Bukhara, Dome of Islam, Religion’s Pillar, Mind’s Beauty, Bukhara was the city of fire worshipers and the centre of the Persian rennaissance and Islamic science.

Rigas Circus, 2003

Built in 1888 and unchanged since, Riga Circus is the world's oldest hard top circus still standing in its original form. Latvia's first film projections were held here in 1889 and the Circus has never stopped its shows throughout the country's tumultuous history.

Otkritki, 2003

Otkritki, which means postcard in Russian, is the product of three trips to Uzbekistan over the past three years.

Home & Away, Uzbekistan, 2002

Uzbekistan is a Soviet invention. Before the Russian Revolution of 1917, Uzbeks usually identified themselves ethnically as either nomad or sart (settled), as Turk or Persian, as simply Muslim or by their clan. Later separate nationalities were identified by Soviet scholars as ordered by Stalin.

Tadjikistan, tissage, 2001

I've been taking photographs since I was ten years old. Photography from the start was something magical for me, transferring reality onto paper with my own hands. It gradually became a record of time, then a tool for describing my version of reality to others.

Strange Days, Czech Republic, 2000

Usti nad Labem is an industrial town situated in the north of the Czech Republic against the German border.

Bishop’s Madness, 1999

According to these employees, the number of patients during this period fell from one hundred and twenty-two to seventy-seven : forty five deaths when the yearly average was nine.

Outlaws, 1999

The Irish State has long seen the Traveller's existence as a problem. The local authorities try to assimilate them into society by giving them housing and education, assaulting and meat mincing them to a point where Travelers are ambiguous about their own identity.

Dallas (Romania), 1998

The Romanian Roma community is the world's largest. Amongst Romania's 23 million inhabitants the government estimates it's Roma population aas being 400,000, but a more realistic figure would be around 2 million.

Amazon Burning, 1997

Ecuador is one of the largest oil producing countries in South America. Lago Agrio is it's principal oil town - it's ‘black gold’ capital.

After Paradise, 1997

Liberia has been totally destroyed by 7 years of civil war. The majority of its infrastructures are reduced to rubble, and health and education services are non-existent.

500 coups, 1996

Due to Madagascar's social structure and the disastrous state of it's economy (ranked amongst the world's poorest countries), more and more children have no choice but to live in the street.

Nimulé, 1995

Why do you say South Sudan? Why are you telling me things that I don’t understand, that I don’t know, that I’ve never heard of? More refugees, more displaced people, war again, weapons, children in distress.

MultimEdia

Meet Me at The Gare, 2006

« VUʼ à Paris » is a collective project of a contemporary glance of VUʼ Photographers inviting to a new perception of todayʼs Paris.

Meet Me at The Gare, 2006

« VUʼ à Paris » is a collective project of a contemporary glance of VUʼ Photographers inviting to a new perception of todayʼs Paris.

Meet Me at The Gare, 2006

« VUʼ à Paris » is a collective project of a contemporary glance of VUʼ Photographers inviting to a new perception of todayʼs Paris.

Interviews

Regardez voir
France Inter
—
Interview by Brigitte Patient, 2018

France inter welcomes the photographer Rip Hopkins in the show Regarder Voir. Portrait of a photographer with such a singular sense of humour.

Listen

Interview de Rip Hopkins – Expostion photographique
Abbaye Royale de l’Épau
—
2018

Interview conducted on the occasion of his exhibition “Belgian Blue Blood” at the Royal Abbey of Epau. Rip Hopkins then goes back over the reasons that pushed him to work on the Belgian aristocracy.

Le Fnac Studio de Rip Hopkins
La Fnac
—
Interview by la Fnac, 2012

La Fnac welcomes the photographer Rip Hopkins as part of the “Fnac Studio” operation. He met and photographed several families who entered into the spirit of the game by letting themselves be staged.

Chevalresque – Portrait de Rip Hopkins
Filigranes
—
Film directed by Patrick Le Bescont, 2012

Through this series of portraits, Rip Hopkins reveals how the inhabitants of Maisons-Laffitte, a French city historically linked to horses, perceive and take on the imagery of the horse in their fantasy. At the North West of Paris, close to the forest of Saint-Germain-en-Laye, stands a city that has been haunted by the presence of horse since the end of the 18th century. Its racetrack has the longest straight line of Europe. Men and horses live together.

Rip Hopkins Interview
Processus Photo
—
Interview by Sandrine Fafet, 2010

Processus photo dedicates an interview to the photographer Rip Hopkins, after the release of his book Another Country.

Listen

Exhibitions

Another Country
—
L’Œil Urbain, Corbeil-Essonnes (FRANCE)
—
From April 5 to May 19, 2019

More informations

Canada Canada
—
Galerie d’Art d’Ottawa, Ottawa (CANADA)
—
From April 28 to June 11, 2017

More informations

Belgian Blue Blood
—
Images Singulières, Sète (FRANCE)
—
From May 4 to 25, 2016

More informations

BOOKS

Canada Canada

Filigranes Editions - 2017

Belgian Blue Blood

Filigranes Editions - 2015

Chevaleresque

Co-production - 2012

Sept fois à terre, huit fois debout

Editions du Chêne - 2011

Un âge de Fer et de Béton

Filigranes Editions, Coédition avec le Conseil général de Seine-et-Marne / musée départemental de Préhistoire d’Ile-de-France - 2011

Another Country

Filigranes Editions - 2010

Alchimistes aux fourneaux

Flammarion - 2007

Clee Hill and Other Sculptures

Bill Hopkins - 2006

Déplacés

Textuel - 2004

Tadjikistan tissages

Actes Sud - 2002

Nimulé

Filigranes Éditions - 1997

Canada Canada

Filigranes Editions - 2017

Belgian Blue Blood

Filigranes Editions - 2015

Chevaleresque

Co-production - 2012

Sept fois à terre, huit fois debout

Editions du Chêne - 2011

Un âge de Fer et de Béton

Filigranes Editions, Coédition avec le Conseil général de Seine-et-Marne / musée départemental de Préhistoire d’Ile-de-France - 2011

Another Country

Filigranes Editions - 2010

Alchimistes aux fourneaux

Flammarion - 2007

Clee Hill and Other Sculptures

Bill Hopkins - 2006

Déplacés

Textuel - 2004

Tadjikistan tissages

Actes Sud - 2002

Nimulé

Filigranes Éditions - 1997

Canada Canada

Filigranes Editions - 2017

Belgian Blue Blood

Filigranes Editions - 2015

Chevaleresque

Co-production - 2012

Sept fois à terre, huit fois debout

Editions du Chêne - 2011

Un âge de Fer et de Béton

Filigranes Editions, Coédition avec le Conseil général de Seine-et-Marne / musée départemental de Préhistoire d’Ile-de-France - 2011

Another Country

Filigranes Editions - 2010

Alchimistes aux fourneaux

Flammarion - 2007

Clee Hill and Other Sculptures

Bill Hopkins - 2006

Déplacés

Textuel - 2004

Tadjikistan tissages

Actes Sud - 2002

Nimulé

Filigranes Éditions - 1997

AWARDS

Ladurée Award

For his series “Alchimistes aux fourneaux (Cooking Alchemists)”

2007

HSBC Award

For his series “Tadjikistan, tissage”

2002

Fondation Jean-Luc Lagardère Grant

For his project” Tadjikistan ethnic group”

2000

Observer Hodge Award

For his series “Tadjikistan, tissage”

1997

Monographies Award

For his book “Nimulé” published by Filigranes

1997

Kodak Young Photoreporter Award

For his report “500 coups”

1997

Black & White Ilford Jury’s Award

For his series “500 coups”

1996

Black & White Ilford Jury’s Award

For his series “Nimulé”

1994