PHOTOGRAPHY

Julien Chavaillaz – Oda

by Julien Chavaillaz

“ODA (Operation Department Alpha), is a reflection on the representation of war. I realized a documentary about american troops based in Afghanistan. Drawing my inspiration from pictures broadcasted by a number of media, I photographed war as I imagined it, and possibly as it unfolds in the collective imaginary. In fact, all was stage setting made in Switzerland and France with ultra realistic airsoft players. In parallel, I worked on a mode of appropriation of the image of the soldier and of his attributes. My idea was to transpose them into the universe of videogames, in reference to the role-playing game broadcasted by the American Army on the internet. Finally, I gathered together both approaches with the aim of creating a work, which would sway between reality and fiction. This, in turn, would open threads of reflection on war and its representation, and on the issue of truth and falsity in war reporting.“