Periferia: Thomas Klotz

Six years after his first book Northscape, which he dedicated to his native North, Thomas Klotz returns to one of his earliest obsession: street photograhy and suburban landscapes, that characterize our contemporary times. With Periferia, he extends his field of exploration, taking us not only across different parts of France, but also the world. From Dunkirk to Thiais, passing through Rotterdam, Dallas or even Mendoza, the photographer constructs a visual journey through  territories that share the same status: peripheral, anonymous, and a seeming interchangeability. Thomas Klotz deliberataly avoids using traditional terms  to designate those areas outside the centers -outskirts, zones, suburbs, residential neighbourhoods- in order to favor periferia, a term that feels more neutral. It allows him to escape from overly restrictive sociological or political interpretations.
"Anyways, I prefer the notion of periphery -what lies beside- rather then the central subject", he confessed in a 2018 interview. This personal inclination eventually became a full-fledged artistic method. The images produced for Periferia are the result of thoroughly researched areas and landscapes, studied before shooting. Whether on foot or by car, using a view camera or a tripod, Thomas Klotz's conceptual approach—marked by long exposure times—places him within the tradition of modern landscape documentary. He appears to follow the footsteps of Eugène Atget and the American photographers of the New Topographics movement, whose work he deeply admires.

~ Texte by Damarice Amao, extract from the book periferia