EXHIBITION

PAUL REAS (UK)

FABLES OF FAUBUS

Carré d’art, Chartres de Bretagne

CHRONICLER OF THE BRITISH WORKING CLASS

In partnership with the GLAZ Festival, the Carré D’art is presenting the national premiere of a Paul Reas retrospective (1982-2012).

Exhibited at the Guernsey Museum as part of the Guernsey Photography Festival 2023-2024, “Fables of Faubus” tells a story of working-class Britain in six chapters. The work focuses on the industrial decline of the Thatcher years and the development of a consumerist, individualistic society against the backdrop of the British musical movement, Northern Soul.

Beneath the historic, social, political and economic elements that we discover in each of his photographs, hides Reas’ artistic journey as a photographer, and the manner in which his various personal and commercial projects have gradually influenced his artistic vision. This extraordinary body of work is presented chronologically; looking back on thirty years of social and economic upheaval in Great Britain. Photo by photo a part of British photographic history is revealed and above all, the unconventional and original journey of an artist who made his mark on the artworld through decades of hard work and a constant questioning of his photographic approach.

Curators: Jean-Christophe Godet and François Boucart.
With thanks to Guernsey Museums and Guernsey Photography Festival. In partnership with Brittany Ferries.

ABOUT THE ARTIST

Born in 1955 to a working-class family in Bradford, Paul Reas left school at fifteen and trained as a bricklayer before joining Newport College in1982 to study documentary photography. Along with the likes of Anna Fox, Paul Graham and Martin Parr, Reas belongs to a generation of photographers who critiqued Britain’s class system and culture and is representative of British documentary colour photography of the mid-eighties.

Paul Reas has exhibited nationally and internationally and his work is kept in both private and public collections. In addition to teaching photography until 2021 he has had a significant commercial and editorial career working between 1999 et 2006 for clients such as the Sunday Times Magazine, The Telegraph Magazine and the Observer Magazine. He has also created a number of award-winning advertising campaigns.

PAUL REAS WEBSITE

Paul Reas (UK)
« FABLES OF FAUBUS »
Exposition du 21 novembre 2025 au 8 mars 2026

Fermé les dimanche, lundi et jeudi
Mardi : de 14h à 18h30
Mercredi : de 10h à 12h30 et de 14h à 18h30
Vendredi : de 14h à 18h30
Samedi : de 10h à 12h30 et de 13h30 à 17h

Le Carré D’art,
1 Rue de la Conterie,
Chartres-de-Bretagne

LE CARRÉ D'ART