Works | Paris Photo x Prix Maison Runiart 2026, Le Vrai du Faux

Long familiar with the studio, Philippe Jarrigeon turns outdoor space into a playground with the Rocher Fatalseries, created in the Forest of Fontainebleau. For Philippe, nature is more than just a backdrop. It is a source of inspiration and a territory of daydreams. Far from naturalist currents, he stages it to reveal its magic,summons our childlike gaze, and draws us into a nature that evokes the collective imagination. With humor and poetry, he also reminds us that this forest, which should be celebrated and protected, remains scarred by our human uses.

His vision and practice now turn toward Champagne, at the instigation of Maison Ruinart. A territory suspended between two worlds—a sea turned into a forest—the land of Champagne exerts a true fascination.Philippe Jarrigeon starts from the singular dialogue that unfolds there between the mineral and the vegetal. His gaze first rests on those enigmatic actors known as the Faux de Verzy, the region's emblematic tortuous beech trees. Under his play of light, the Faux awaken, becoming magical and vibrant, as if inhabited by fireflies, while other trees and bouquets of flowers disguise themselves to mimic humans. Meanwhile, seashells—traces of a vanished sea—come back to life and find their voice.

As always, Philippe enjoys blurring roles, turning his photographic experiments into the theater of a re-enchanted world. Le Vrai du Faux composes a body of work that owes as much to painting as it is to photography. The large formats of the Faux evoke the canvases of the pioneers of Impressionism, while the floral arrangements are a nod to Flemish masters and the seashells a tribute to the Surrealists. Philippe does not merely cite this art history; he awakens it, and the pop culture running through it brings it right into our present.