Paralysis #09 (2016) Photography by Tao Douay

Tao Douay was born in 1988 near Toulouse. He grew up in an isolated country presbytery, where an irrepressible questioning of death and an inexhaustible desire to discover the unknown developed in him. Around the age of 12, he began to film his surroundings, in particular the cemetery opposite his room. A few years later, photography became a must, and his father taught him the black and white laboratory. At the same time, his studies led him towards literature and philosophy. The latter helped him to understand and deepen his attraction to death. In 2009, he ed a photography school, ETPA in Toulouse, which allowed him to go further in his work. He won the Grand Prix in 2012. Today, he lives in Paris and works as a photographer, questioning society, individuals and the intimate.

(…) One of the greatest thinkers of the 20th century, Gilles Deleuze, said that we recognize an artist by his obsession and that we should ask an artist what his obsession is. Tao Douay's obsession does not take detours, it is in the famous "Everything es" of the Greek philosopher Heraclitus. (…)

In Muret, he photographs the HLM of the Maïmat square, destroyed and destined for reconstruction. He photographs young girls with melancholy looks. He photographs in a nocturnal wandering encounters of crazy characters who emerge from the deep night only to be re-engulfed by it.

Very quickly, his emerging work asserts itself. We can clearly see that there is something else in him, something different, something artistic.
Serge Dejean, professor of philosophy, art historian and author.

• Nationality:
• Date of birth : 1988
• Artistic domains: Represented by a Gallery,
• Groups: Artists presented by a gallery