Jérémie Villet, the art of silence in contemporary wildlife photography
Among the adventurers of our modern times, Jérémie Villet occupies a unique place: he moves with hushed steps, a slender silhouette, a thin moustache, an almost old-fashioned look, as if he had escaped from a Hollywood film of another age, somewhere between English elegance and discreet romanticism. And yet. It is indeed this man who braves the most deserted and endless regions of the planet, the boundless horizons and the most bitter cold, in an attempt to capture the indescribable and make it visible.
For Jérémie Villet is not just an extreme wildlife photographer. Admittedly, his exploits are impressive: nearly ten years spent roaming the ‘north of the world’, alone, heavily laden, bivouacking in polar conditions, tracking the furtive presence of a ptarmigan, a wolf or a caribou emerging from the great white. From north-western Canada to Alaska, from Norway to Finland, to Antarctica and Japan, he moves forward without fanfare, accepting the wait, the silence, and also the failure. But to reduce his work to physical performance would be to miss the point.
Jérémie Villet is above all an artist. A man who makes film speak as others make words sing. His images convey a poetry of withdrawal, of purity, of what escapes us, sheltered from the rumblings of the world. ‘A good photo,’ he says, "is not when there is nothing to add, but when there is nothing to take away. " Everything is there: asceticism, the rejection of the spectacular, the search for the right emotion. Snow, his favourite territory, becomes a blank page where the animal almost merges with the very substance of the image, to the point of bordering on abstraction. His work speaks less of nature than of our relationship with it, and even more of our ability to see.
A film exhibition in Paris between nature, slowness and the poetry of white
It is precisely this shift in perspective that is offered today by the exhibition presented at Nation Photo Lamartine. From 5 January to 5 March 2026, the photographer unveils a series of film images taken during his travels. From deer to penguins, birds to snowy landscapes, Villet's familiar bestiary is very much present — but transfigured. These photographs were taken in medium format film using old rolls of film found on Leboncoin, sometimes damaged, imperfect, marked by time.
This choice is not anecdotal. It tells us something about our consumer society, about planned obsolescence, and also about the ecological emergency. Above all, it gives photography a rare dimension: that of uniqueness. Each image becomes a fragile, unrepeatable object, imbued with pastel shades and happy accidents. Far from betraying reality, the film enriches it with an additional memory.
In a world saturated with smooth, instantaneous images, Jérémie Villet contrasts slowness, risk and imperfection. And he reminds us, with restrained elegance, that silence still has a lot to say.
EXHIBITION
Jérémie Villet – Silver-based photographs
Monday 5 January to Thursday 5 March 2026
Nation Photo Lamartine, 46 rue Lamartine, 75009 Paris
Monday to Saturday, 10am – 7.30pm
Free admission
Translated by Bethszabee Garner
