Christophe Agou (1969 – September 2015) was a French documentary photographer and street photographer who lived in New York City. His work has been published in books and is held in public collections. He was a member of the In-Public street photography collective.
Agou was born in Montbrison, France in 1969. A self-taught photographer, Agou grew up in a small town in the Forez region, on the eastern side of the Massif Central.
From the early 1990s, Agou made documentary-style photographs in both black and white and color which take an allusive approach to the human condition. He also made short films and sculpture. In 1992, he moved to New York City. He began taking photographs in the streets that evoked a sense of longing and isolation. He made photographs at Ground Zero on September 11th, 2001, which were used in numerous publications. He first came to prominence with photographs taken in the New York City Subway, published in his book Life Below (2004).
In 2002 Agou returned to Forez. He traveled to the lesser-known parts of the region and got to know a community of family farmers whose identities are deeply rooted to the land. He photographed and filmed them at work and at home for eight years. This resulted in Face au Silence / In the Face of Silence, a documentary about rural life in early twenty-first century France. The work won him the 2010 European Publishers Award for Photography, and publication in six editions and in six languages.
He became a member of the In-Public street photography collective in 2005.
Agou died in September 2015 of cancer.
Life Below: The New York City Subway. New York: Quantuck Lane Press, 2004. ISBN 1-59372-008-4.Face au Silence. Text by John Berger.Face au Silence. Arles: Actes Sud, 2010. ISBN 2-7427-9542-1.In the Face of Silence. Stockport: Dewi Lewis, 2011. ISBN 1-907893-04-0.Aπέναντι Στη Σιωπή. Apeiron Photos, 2011. ISBN 960-94490-2-6.Ante el Silencio. Barcelona: Lunwerg Editores, 2011. ISBN 978-84-9785-718-5.Gesichter der Stille. Berlin: Edition Braus, 2011. ISBN 3-86228-003-9.Di Fronte al Silenzio. Rome: Peliti Associati, 2011. ISBN 88-89412-47-X.Les Faits Secondaires. Christophe Agou, 2013. ISBN 978-1-4675-7085-5. Texts by Agou and John Berger. Poems by Daniel De Bruycker. Edition of 700 copies.
10 – 10 Years of In-Public. London: Nick Turpin Publishing, 2010. ISBN 978-0-9563322-1-9. Includes an essay by Jonathan Glancey, "Outlandish Harmony"; a foreword by Nick Turpin; and a chapter each by Agou, Nick Turpin, David Gibson, Richard Bram, Matt Stuart, Andy Morley-Hall, Trent Parke, Narelle Autio, Jesse Marlow, Adrian Fisk, Nils Jorgensen, Melanie Einzig, Jeffrey Ladd, Amani Willett, Gus Powell, Otto Snoek, Blake Andrews, David Solomons, George Kelly and Paul Russell.Photographers' Sketchbooks. London: Thames & Hudson, 2014. ISBN 9780500544341. Edited by Stephen McLaren and Bryan Formhals.Face au Silence = In the Face of Silence (2011).In-Sight (2011). 38-minute documentary directed and edited by Nick Turpin, commissioned by Format for the Format International Photography Festival, Derby, 2011. Includes interviews with Agou, Richard Bram, Melanie Einzig, David Gibson, Jesse Marlow, Gus Powell, Otto Snoek, David Solomons, and Nick Turpin, and shows them at work.2011–2012: Face au silence. Rencontres d'Arles Festival, Arles, France. 18 November 2011 – 21 January 2012.2011–2012: Face au silence. Fait & Cause Galerie, Paris, France. 18 November 2011 – 14 January 2012.2012: Face au silence. Musee d'art Roger Quilliot (MARQ), Clermont-Ferrand, France. 26 January – 29 April 2012.2014: Face au silence. Galerie Intervalle, Paris, France. 3 September – 11 October 2014.2010: in-public @ 10, Photofusion, Brixton, London, 28 May – 9 July 2010. Travelled to Les Ballades Photographiques de Seyssel, Seyssel, France, 12–23 July 2011, where it also included the film In-Sight (2011) and The French exhibition by Nick Turpin. Included photographs by In-Public members Agou, Nick Turpin, David Gibson, Richard Bram, Matt Stuart, Andy Morley-Hall, Trent Parke, Narelle Autio, Adrian Fisk, Nils Jorgensen, Jesse Marlow, Melanie Einzig, Jeffrey Ladd, Amani Willett, Gus Powell, Otto Snoek, Blake Andrews, David Solomons, George Kelly and Paul Russell.2010: Street Photography Now, Third Floor Gallery, Cardiff, 10 October – 14 November 2010. Photographs featured in the book Street Photography Now (2011) by Agou as well as Arif Asci, Narelle Autio, Polly Braden, Bang Byoung-Sang, Maciej Dakowicz, Carolyn Drake, Melanie Einzig, George Georgiou, David Gibson, Bruce Gilden, Thierry Girard, Andrew Z. Glickman, Siegfried Hansen, Markus Hartel, Nils Jorgensen, Richard Kalvar, Martin Kollar, Jens Olof Lasthein, Frederic Lezmi, Jesse Marlow, Jeff Mermelstein, Joel Meyerowitz, Mimi Mollica, Trent Parke, Martin Parr, Gus Powell, Mark Alor Powell, Bruno Quinquet, Paul Russell, Otto Snoek, Matt Stuart, Ying Tang, Alexey Titarenko, Nick Turpin, Munem Wasif, Alex Webb, Amani Willett, Michael Wolf, Artem Zhitenev and Wolfgang Zurborn.1999 Attention Talent Photo Award Fnac2000 Project Competition - Santa Fe Prize for Photography2002 Magazine Picture of the Year - Honorable Mention2002 Ai-AP American Photography Award2006 W. Eugene Smith Grant in Humanistic Photography - Finalist2008 Prix de la Photographie de l’Academie des Beaux-Arts de Paris - Finalist2009 Prix Kodak de la Critique Photographique - Special Mention2010 European Publishers Award for Photography - Winner2012 CNC (Centre National du Cinema et de l’Image Animee). Commission for Sans Adieu.2013 CNC (Centre National du Cinema et de l’Image Animee)Agou's work is held in the following public collections:
La Bibliotheque nationale de France, Paris, FranceMusee d'art Roger Quilliot (MARQ), Clermont-Ferrand, FranceMuseum of Fine Arts, Houston, TXNeuberger Museum of Art, Purchase, NYSmithsonian American Art Museum, Washington, DCThe Akron Art Museum Akron, OHSoutheast Museum of Photography, Daytona, FLNew York Public Library, New York, NYFrances Lehman Loeb Art Center, Vassar College, Poughkeepsie, NYNew-York Historical Society, New York, NYFonds national d'art contemporain (FNAC), Paris, FranceThe Joy of Giving Something, New York, NY
