Imaginary Lands

Imaginary Lands

“Going up that river was like travelling back to the earliest beginnings of the world, when vegetation rioted on the earth and the big trees were kings. An empty stream, a great silence, an impenetrable forest.” – Joseph Conrad, Heart of Darkness (1902).


In Olivia Lavergne’s (b. 1979) Jungles, the viewer is immersed in a tropical forest filled with a fascinating luxuriance – a strange beauty beckoning to be explored. Lush and verdant, with vignette borders, the images play with light, sculpting the landscape and our path through it as onlookers.


The photographs cast a sense of doubt as we look deeper into the intricate details: branches overlapping over one another and streams of sunlight jarring against unexpected shadows. Here lies an unpredictable and unsettling adventure.


Lavergne was born in Paris. After studying literature, she turned to photography. In her pictures, staged composition blurs boundaries with reality. Lavergne has won multiple awards including the AFAR Travel Photography Awards (2018), the Moscow International Foto Awards (2015), the LensCulture Emerging Talent Award (2014). olivialavergne.com.


Credits: All images © Olivia Lavergne / Galerie Insula Paris 6. Galerie Insula – Véronique Cochois.
1. Jungles 02, Tirage Fine Art, 100 x 100 cm, 2013, Ed. 5.
2. Jungles 01, Tirage Fine Art, 100 x 100 cm, 2013, Ed. 5.
3. Jungles 03, Tirage Fine Art, 100 x 100 cm, 2013, Ed. 5.
4. Jungles 04, Tirage Fine Art, 100 x 100 cm, 2013, Ed. 5.
5. Jungles 07, Tirage Fine Art, 100 x 100 cm, 2013, Ed. 5.
6. Jungles 08, Tirage Fine Art, 100 x 100 cm, 2013, Ed. 5.
7. Jungles 11, Tirage Fine Art, 100 x 100 cm, 2013, Ed. 5.