Robert Hyde, Street Paralysis
Robert Hyde will present Street Paralysis at the Spéos Gallery, 7 rue Jules Vallès, 75011 Paris, from March 8th to April 8th, 2022.
Opening of the exhibition: March 8th, from 6pm to 9pm.
“Plunged into semi-darkness, Paris becomes an alternate space, its doors open to fiction. Employing mystery and humor, Robert Hyde builds a hypnotic universe whose characters and settings hold many secrets. Elaborately composed, the images freeze passersby in singular postures and blur the line between mise en scène and spontaneity. Street Paralysis reveals a city in flux, outside of reality and time.” (Lou Tsatsas, Fisheye Magazine)
All of the photographs in Street Paralysis were made in April 2020, midway through the period remembered as the first confinement. The series was created with the intent of channeling the dark energy of that unprecedented moment into a layered, incongruous narrative that asks more questions than it answers.
Robert Hyde (American, born 1981) grew up near Boston and lived in Maine before moving to Paris in 2017. He earned a Titre RNCP in documentary photography from Spéos and Magnum Photos in 2018 and began working for Magnum while also producing personal projects.
Informed by documentary practice, his work is nonetheless deeply introspective and emotionally biased. It gravitates towards subjects that touch him personally, including underground culture and sexual repression: Deviations is a self-exploration at queer parties in Paris; Cruising, an ongoing work, investigates public spaces where men seek clandestine sexual encounters with other men.
Robert’s work is featured in publications including Fresh Eyes by GUP Magazine, L’Œil de la Photographie and Fisheye Magazine.
Robert is a Spéos 2018 graduate from Creative Documentary Course by Magnum Photos & Spéos.
