Paolo Roversi, Des Oiseaux, 2023

For this fifteenth title in the collection, the great fashion and portrait photographer Paolo Roversi invites falconry birds into his studio and produces an intriguing series in which owls, owls and falcons appear drenched in saturated light on large-format Polaroids. The Italian photographer’s signature minimalist approach to portraiture and monochrome tones reveal these birds of prey in all their majesty.

Installed on a stool or the back of a chair, the birds pose elegantly, their eyes sometimes astonished to have become subjects worthy of attention. Time seems to stand still: in shades of violet or almost old gold with a patina, the birds’ quiet presence, sudden flight and surprised gaze almost verge on the painterly.
This new series by Roversi offers a new way of looking at birds: their relationship with man, as an artistic model.