PIERROT MEN
Born in November 1954 in Midongy-du-Sud, on the east coast of Madagascar, Pierrot Men now lives and works in Fianarantsoa, where he runs the city’s largest photo-lab, the “Labo Men”. He discovered photography in 1974, when he opened his first laboratory. Yet for 17 years, photography was simply Pierrot’s means of making a living while he focused on his primary passion: painting. Eventually, a friend’s candid comments led Pierrot to put down his paintbrush and take up photography in earnest. In 1994, Pierrot Men won a photo competition run by Mother Jones (San Francisco) and was given a Leica that is now his constant companion. Since then, his work has been rewarded on numerous occasions, both in Madagascar and abroad (1997 Francophone Games in Madagascar, UNEP/Canon prize in 2000…) Straddling the line between photo-journalism and fine art photography, Pierrot’s work is deeply human and is also inseparable from the Big Island. It testifies to the author’s inexhaustible capacity to marvel at his environment.