Distancing himself from straightforward documentary photography, d’Agata likens his role as a photographer to that of an actor, regarding his photography ‘as nothing but a lie’.

Simultaneously, he considers the world’s existence, or our experience of it, as inextricably linked to its representation through images ensuring the action of looking and being are inseparable.

D’Agata’s subject matter relies on chance encounters with people and places and these photographs are the consequences of these liaisons. Viewed en masse, the photographs in the exhibition will construct a visual autobiography derived from his travels and wanderings. Raw and often challenging in their subject matter, the images appear almost translucent, rendering them beautiful and fragile, sitting between time and space in an alternately bleak, painterly and carnivalesque atmosphere.

The exhibition will use Insomnia, his most powerful and notable body of work, as the starting point. These images present a fragmented, nomadic visual journey, epitomising what d’Agata describes as photography’s ‘intimate rapport with the world.’ The images allude to an intense, often sexually charged, nocturnal world at the juncture of dream and awakening, and thinking and feeling.

Sitting alongside Insomnia is a site specific display, a montage, created by d’Agata and will include a selection of works from five of his past series, Mala Noche (1998), Home Town (2001), Insomnia (2003), Vortex (2003), Stigma (2004) as well as a selection of previously unpublished photographs. Created specifically for this exhibition it will permit d’Agata to curate his photography, mixing portraiture with urban landscapes.

Antoine d’Agata (b.1961, France) left his homeland in 1983 for ten years, moving to New York in 1990 where he remained until his return to France in 1993. During this time d’Agata’s interest in photography grew, leading him to enrol in courses at the prestigious International Center for Photography in New York. He joined Magnum Photos in 2004 and became an Associate in 2006. D’Agata has exhibited his work extensively on an international scale and has published numerous monographs. Insomnia reflects The Photographers’ Gallery’s commitment to highlighting contemporary international photographers. This exhibition is presented in collaboration with Magnum Photos.