In this album, the compelling photographer Alessandra Sanguinetti explores her vision of France, in which old traditions persist even while they fray and shift in relation to contemporary stresses, including multiculturalism. The work presents an intuitive, often lyrical journey that is undercut with a sense of tension about what it means to be French―and to photograph the French―today.

Le Gendarme Sur La Colline is the result of a major new commission by Fondation de l’entreprise Hermès and Aperture Foundation, working in alliance. Called “Immersion, a French American Photography Commission,” the program seeks to expand artistic dialogue between France and the US, while investing in creativity, and providing a platform for an important emerging artist to create a major new body of work.

Copublished by Aperture and Fondation de l’entreprise Hermès

11 x 10 1/4 inches112 four-color images, including 2 eight-page gatefolds, 69 four-color imagesFlexibound with velvet jacket978-1-59711-4-264May 2017

Alessandra Sanguinetti (born in New York, 1968) is a recipient of numerous awards, including a Guggenheim Fellowship, Hasselblad Foundation grant, Robert Gardner Fellowship, and Arles Discovery Award. Her photographs are in major collections such as the Museum of Modern Art, New York, and Pier 24 Photography, San Francisco. Her monographs include On the Sixth Day (2005) and Sorry Welcome. 

Susan Bright is a curator and writer whose recent books include Art Photography Now (Aperture, 2005) and Feast for the Eyes: The Story of Food in Photography (Aperture, 2017)