The group of images that conform the project La Nuit Americaine, come as a result of the several trips the artist did to the Iraqui city of Halabja, during 2008 and 2009.
Located in the Iraqui Kurdistan, border with Iran, Halabja suffered a chemical attack commanded by Saddam Hussein in 1988. During the attack, over 5.000 people were killed in about 4 hours.
In 1973 François Truffaut shot a film entitled The American Night. The movie takes as a reference the cinematographic technique of simulated night, also called Day for Night or Night Effect.
The film analyzes up to which point a pretence might become more real than the reality itself for those who are playing it. Based on the metaphor of the long night as the tragical situation Iraq is suffering, this project avoids the cliched images of war during the day.
On the contrary it is focused on silent night situations that depict Iraq social reality, in a respectfull and non spectacular manner.
The romantic and precise lighting speaks indirectly about a very different situation to which we are used to receive. The fact that the exposures are so long and at night involve the unprotected presence of the photographer, a hiden fact that reinforces the critic against massmedia manipulation.