With the aim of setting up large-format installations Charles Haumont uses public spaces as his shooting scene, particularly Brussels where he lives, but also other big cities like London, Dublin, Tokyo and Berlin. Many people prepare themselves with great attention to detail before entering the scene of the public space, hence being exposed to the view of others. Haumont creates sculptural images from these anonymous figures encountered in the crowd, a fragment of a second, caught in various postures, emotional or not, with their outfits, dresses, jewelries, make-up and tattoos. 

​

In so doing, Haumont creates a phenomenological photography, depicting the ineffable experience of being immersed in the crowd. Inside the public space we play a character through the gestures, the glances, the outfits we choose to wear. This character is produced by the latency of a whole set of possible movements or postures, which make us different from robots, resin models, or silicone dolls. The postures we display in public spaces are the result of the imaginary life of our body : our gestures are traces of our history.

​

In turn our imaginary is bounded to the perceived. The perception of the other’s body influences the linkage between the seeing and the seen : the other’s body is, par excellence, the object of all imaginary investments. This mechanism is made obvious to the viewer by the jubilation, often depicted in Haumont’s images, of people immersed in the crowd. The street is a language, and being immersed in the language is jubilant.