Patrick Cariou: Works 1985-2005

Patrick's work offers a mesmerising journey around the world in search of the divine, offering a timeless portrait of people living on the fringe, creating life on their own terms. - i-D

For more than 25 years, French photographer Patrick Cariou has travelled to far out places around the globe, documenting people living on the fringes of society and making a way for themselves. Whether photographing surfers, gypsies, Rastafarians, or rude boys of Kingston, Cariou celebrates his subjects as they are: peoples of the earth who meet the struggles of life with honour, dignity, and joy.

Bringing together works from his groundbreaking monographs including Surfers, Yes Rasta, Trenchtown Love, and Gypsies, Works 1985-2005 takes us on a scenic journey around the world, offering an intimate and captivating look at cultures that distance themselves from the blessings and curses of modernism.

Given access to these hermetic realms, Cariou presents a fascinating portrait of resistance in a multiplicity of forms. The landscape plays a vital role in Cariou's work, revealing how people live shapes their identity and destiny in equal part. Whether following the waves, living in the mountains, or surviving urban and rural poverty, Cariou's subjects reveal the importance of preserving one's native culture at a time of Western cultural hegemony.

The spirit of pride and defiance comes alive in his work; each of the peoples portrayed have found a way to survive despite the brutality facing them and the earth alike.