Growing up in the French Alps brought Bernard Gateau his first contact with interesting faces. Using his grandmother’s folding Kodak 120 film camera, he began memorializing the fast-vanishing village life of his surroundings: farmers, shepherds, peddlers, even itinerant distillers of fruit alcohols.
Abandoning a career with IBM, he took to the road on a round-the-world drive during which he discovered not only skill in fixing cars, but a talent for capturing the essence of rural peoples in portraiture.
These days, whether on the roads of Ethiopia or Tibet, China or Tajikistan, Bernard continues to be captivated by faces, which he transforms into portraits of grace, power and empathy, each telling a uniquely personal story.
