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Poetry of Contrasts
Poetry of Contrasts
Pierre et Florent
February 13, 2026
Where trees grow between urban canyons and concrete, and abandoned industry is overgrown by plants and vines, Pierre & Florent find a reality that underlines their way of travelling: curious, intimate and defined by their passion for photography. Their pictures from Japan are a testament to their fascination for the country.
LFI: Can you tell us more about the project?
Pierre & Florent: We spent a month in Japan in October of 2024, to work on our Ostension photo series, but also just for fun and to visit friends. As with previous trips to Japan, we documented our daily life there – a travel habit that has developed over the years.
How long were you in the country and what places did you visit?
During the one-month trip, we spent a few days in Tokyo before heading for the coastal town of Onomichi at the Seto Inland Sea. Then we travelled on to the island of Mukaishima. We also visited Hiroshima, as well as the regions around Okayama and north of Fukuyama, along the banks of the Ōta River.
What fascinates you about Japan and, in your opinion, what is it that makes the country’s aesthetics so special?
Japan is complex, multi-faceted and in a constant state of change. It’s impossible to summarise the aesthetics, because perspectives are fed by one’s own experiences, and so are very different. When we’re in Japan, we look for intense, surprising landscapes, but also for a feeling of freedom and peace.
The Seto Inland Sea is especially fascinating. Its archipelago is made up of sunken mountains, the peaks of which are all that rise out of the calm waters. There are a great diversity of smells and landscapes on the islands. Nothing is as calming as cycling through old villages, plantations, forests and industrial port districts.
What are you looking for when you’re out and about?
We tried to capture details and visual correlations that we came across – instances where beauty meets ugliness, and the facade crumbles to give way to reality. There is an incomparable poetry of contrasts in Japan. There is environmental pollution, capitalism and uncontrolled urbanisation there too. In many places we visited, however, calm has returned and nature is reclaiming what humans took away from it.
What mood do you want to convey with your pictures?
When we’re travelling, outside of our projects, we deliberately don’t pursue any particular aesthetic. We allow ourselves to be guided by movement, places and encounters. You you visit a place on various occasions, you often see it with different eyes compared to the first time you visited. Initially, you feel drawn by the expansive landscapes, the magical or the spectacular; but then your attention turns to details that weren’t immediately visible. The mood in the pictures is closely bound to our way of travelling: intimate and introspective.
Compared to your other projects, this series seems to be very different, both in content and in the realisation. How would you describe your approach this time?
Above all, we define ourselves as visual artists who work with photography, and who concentrate on staging and on documentary storytelling. Our work normally begins with human material: language, memory, intimacy, emotions. In contrast, our travel pictures depict a suspended moment, a space of great freedom, often without human figures, guided solely by the joy of experiencing the moment.
Pauline KnappschneiderLFI: Can you tell us more about the project?
Pierre & Florent: We spent a month in Japan in October of 2024, to work on our Ostension photo series, but also just for fun and to visit friends. As with previous trips to Japan, we documented our daily life there – a travel habit that has developed over the years.
How long were you in the country and what places did you visit?
During the one-month trip, we spent a few days in Tokyo before heading for the coastal town of Onomichi at the Seto Inland Sea. Then we travelled on to the island of Mukaishima. We also visited Hiroshima, as well as the regions around Okayama and north of Fukuyama, along the banks of the Ōta River.
What fascinates you about Japan and, in your opinion, what is it that makes the country’s aesthetics so special?
Japan is complex, multi-faceted and in a constant state of change. It’s impossible to summarise the aesthetics, because perspectives are fed by one’s own experiences, and so are very different. When we’re in Japan, we look for intense, surprising landscapes, but also for a feeling of freedom and peace.
The Seto Inland Sea is especially fascinating. Its archipelago is made up of sunken mountains, the peaks of which are all that rise out of the calm waters. There are a great diversity of smells and landscapes on the islands. Nothing is as calming as cycling through old villages, plantations, forests and industrial port districts.
What are you looking for when you’re out and about?
We tried to capture details and visual correlations that we came across – instances where beauty meets ugliness, and the facade crumbles to give way to reality. There is an incomparable poetry of contrasts in Japan. There is environmental pollution, capitalism and uncontrolled urbanisation there too. In many places we visited, however, calm has returned and nature is reclaiming what humans took away from it.
What mood do you want to convey with your pictures?
When we’re travelling, outside of our projects, we deliberately don’t pursue any particular aesthetic. We allow ourselves to be guided by movement, places and encounters. You you visit a place on various occasions, you often see it with different eyes compared to the first time you visited. Initially, you feel drawn by the expansive landscapes, the magical or the spectacular; but then your attention turns to details that weren’t immediately visible. The mood in the pictures is closely bound to our way of travelling: intimate and introspective.
Compared to your other projects, this series seems to be very different, both in content and in the realisation. How would you describe your approach this time?
Above all, we define ourselves as visual artists who work with photography, and who concentrate on staging and on documentary storytelling. Our work normally begins with human material: language, memory, intimacy, emotions. In contrast, our travel pictures depict a suspended moment, a space of great freedom, often without human figures, guided solely by the joy of experiencing the moment.
ALL IMAGES ON THIS PAGE: © Pierre et Florent
EQUIPMENT: Leica M11, Apo-Summicron-M 35 f/2 Asph
Pierre et Florent+-
The French duo have been working together since 2010. They are united by a common passion for participating in and facilitating intense individual and collective experiences. Their work unfolds at the interface between performance and documentation, which they capture in photographs. In doing so, they play with themes surrounding identity, emotion and memory, as well as with textile installations and objects. Their work is exhibited internationally. More
