TITLE: THE TRACE

Photographer Pierre DEMAIN, far removed from contemporary excesses, cultivates authenticity and simplicity in his search for meaning, in service of the universal concept that runs through all his work: the trace.
“Everything that will be lived is built upon what has already been lived; everything that has been lived leaves a trace.”

Nothing exists without leaving a trace. Yet a trace is a reality transformed by the soul. It becomes, for each of us, our own truth. A trace is like a being: alive, specific, unpredictable, fragile, influenceable. It is born, evolves, emerges, fades, disappears. It has no need for our awareness; it imposes itself, undeniable, master of its own destiny.
Pierre DEMAIN never ceases to try to make it exist.

After years of personal reflection and the development of a unique technique essential to giving form to a concept that is both concrete and abstract, Pierre DEMAIN made his choice. Natural light, natural settings, intuitive framing, disregard for technology, absence of post-production, improvisation.
His images take shape and are born naturally — and exclusively — at the moment of shooting. This specificity stems from his determination to remain as close as possible to the human element.
His expressive palette: blur, transparency, movement, interpretation, imagination, experimentation.

AUTHOR: Pierre Demain (Switzerland)

Born in Lyon. Like three generations before him, he could have become an architect — but no. As soon as he finished high school, he rushed to Paris, a city of creativity and celebration, the birthplace of advertising in France. First an assistant photographer, Pierre DEMAIN was fascinated by the energy of the advertising world. He went on to build a long career in communications while, in parallel, nurturing his personal photographic project, which he brought to life in 2023.

His life in advertising revealed an obvious truth: what matters is not what we are exposed to, but what remains within us. One word stands out: trace. It would become the founding concept of all his work.
Objective in the context of advertising—since it can be measured—it is, for Pierre DEMAIN, just as subjective yet inescapable in our intimate lives.

​Pierre DEMAIN practices photography in its purest form:
a light, a frame. Minimalist in his approach, he works exclusively with natural light, without artifice, without software, without retouching: every image is created in-camera. Be attentive: you will often see several images within a single image.

The man who would have loved to be a painter likes to say that his cameras are brushes that distance him from reality so he can imagine the truth.

His favorite subject is the face.

Because we do not know what our true face is.
Because we ignore the one others perceive.
Because every expression creates a new face.

Because a face is not a portrait:
it is a soul…