Romain Blanquart
The Tyranny of Hope
November 4–29, 2015
The Tyranny of Hope is a photographic tribute to Detroit, Michigan, the city where artist Romain Blanquart has made his home as a photojournalist for more than ten years. Rendered in moody black-and-white, Blanquart’s 54 aluminum prints tell many stories—from the heartwarming to the bleak—of post-recession life in the Motor City. However, the series is not meant as yet another anesthetization of ruin and decline, but it exists instead as a testament to the resilience of a community in spite of ongoing hardship.
Romain Blanquart (b. 1973, France) is a visual journalist living in Detroit, Michigan. He studied advertising photography at the Rochester Institute of Technology and for the last ten years he has been a staff photographer at the Detroit Free Press newspaper. He was named Michigan Photographer of the Year twice and has received numerous accolades for his photography and video work from Best of Photojournalism, the Emmy Awards, PX3 Prix de la Photographie Paris, The National Association of Black Journalists, the Associated Press, The New York Photo Festival, and the Edward J. Meeman Award for environmental reporting.
Support for The Tyranny of Hope is provided in part by White House Custom Colour.