Jean-Luc Clercq-Roques exhibition: A magical return to collodion
Until 6 July 2025, the Centre for Photography in the Château de l’Hom district of Gaillac is immersing visitors in a fascinating photographic world. Jean-Luc Clercq-Roques, a passionate photographer, is presenting his exhibition “Contemporary wet plate collodion”, dedicated to ambrotypes and the wet-plate collodion technique. The exhibition is bringing a rich artistic past back to life and offering a reflection on our contemporary relationship with images and time. Among other highlights, visitors can admire original small-format plates, as well as large digital Piezography prints, on ARCHES® Aquarelle 640 gsm hot pressed paper, produced from digital scans of the originals.
Jean-Luc Clercq-Roques: a life dedicated to light
Jean-Luc Clercq-Roques lives in Carmaux, France, and is a man of light in all its forms. His background has been marked by a fascination with transparency and light. Initially a master glassmaker, he has also worked as a film projectionist and watercolour artist, exploring light in various forms. His career as a photographer began with street and landscape photography using film, before he moved on to digital techniques to capture landscapes and concerts, in particular for the Pause Guitare festival. Recently, he has returned to film photography with a large-format camera and has developed a passion for wet-plate collodion, a 19th-century photographic technique.
The magic of wet-plate collodion
The heart of the exhibition lies in the wet-plate collodion technique, which dates back to 1851. It is a very old black-and-white method of photography that uses a view camera, exposure times of a few seconds and plates sensitised in a silver bath. This demanding and sensitive process promises unique works imbued with unparalleled charm. Clercq-Roques describes this technique as a “19th-century Polaroid”, where each plate is the result of a captivating artisanal process: the production, sensitisation, development and fixing steps all take place within around 15 minutes.
“Collodion is a demanding technique, with capricious chemistry, suffering from flaws and dust, but with a charm that I see as incomparable!” explains the artist. He views this slow and thoughtful approach as a response to the haste and immediacy that pervade our daily lives, where everything seems to have lost its depth.
© Jean-Luc Clercq-Roques “Calligraphie” – Photograph printed using the Piezography process by Dominique Laugé on ARCHES® Aquarelle 640 gsm hot pressed paper
© Jean-Luc Clercq-Roques “Pétanque” – Photograph printed using the Piezography process by Dominique Laugé on ARCHES® Aquarelle 640 gsm hot pressed paper
An invitation to reflect and marvel
The exhibition invites visitors to rediscover the slowness and depth of the moment. It juxtaposes original small-format plates with large digital Piezography prints on thick ARCHES® Aquarelle 640 gsm paper. This innovative combination of the old and new reflects the timelessness of the artist’s eye and the permanence of the emotions conveyed by photography.
