In a quest to performatively exhaust himself, Augustin Lignier reaches for the unreachable. Turning Point is a project that is equal parts obsession with a single movement and a poetic commentary on image-making, or perhaps on living a life (you choose). Working at the intersection of photography and performance, Lignier undertakes the simple task of jumping and turning across a circle, aiming to land perfectly at the camera’s shutter. His search for the perfect shot, where the gaze is right, the body aligned, and the heel hovers above the ground, offers a curious take on the decisive moment and a metaphor for liminality, a space of change. Whether a response to the world or self-reflection, the series takes viewers from laughter to anxiety and back. The 60 images selected from 6,000 stand as a testament to photography’s promise to capture the ephemeral and a portrait of our ever-pursuing, ever-unsatisfied human nature. And as if that were not enough, Lignier doesn’t stop there.
Images of Turning Point by Art Paper Editions. Images courtesy of Augustin Lignier and Jurgen Maelfeyt.