Valentin Hennequin was born in France. He’s a photographer between Milan, Paris, London, or anywhere really. He believes that the simple details in an image can hold the strongest stories.
About Two or three things – words by Valentin Hennequin:
“Those memories whose only function had been to leave behind nothing but memories.” Sans Soleil, Chris Marker, 1983
In 2017 I moved to the Italian countryside, in the northern region of Emilia Romagna. From living in the heart of London, I moved to a small village of 7 people in the hills not far from Milan. In London, I used to be an Art director, and here, I was starting over, a new language and a new career as a photographer.
I took pictures to immerse myself in this new environment, learn about my surroundings, and build a new home. Trying to find places and details that seemed familiar, trying to find out what I was expecting Italy would look like, and what I would actually observe.
I would walk and drive hours making sense of this new home, searching for the new things, the common things, the details, the signs, the language. These photos became a way of creating my own vision of home, and of Italy.
These images also include a collaboration with Alberto, that I met in the first few months after I arrived in Italy. Since then, we had been meeting up every other months, talking, taking pictures. He would help me with my italian, and similarly he would make me feel more at home in Italy, getting to know someone, the people behind the places.
Shortly after I published this project, I moved back to Paris. This would always be a snapshot of the few years I spent in a small house, in the countryside of Italy.
A good way to remember it.
