Romain Jacquet-Lagrèze

Romain Jacquet-Lagrèze (born 1987) is a French photographer known for his work capturing modern urban life in the city of Hong Kong. His photographic work started in 2012 with Vertical Horizon, a photo book focused on the city's vertical architecture, which gave him international visibility.

Notable work

Vertical Horizon Vertical Horizon is a collection of photographs capturing the densely populated city of Hong Kong from the ground, in the midst of building. It was published as a book of the same name in 2012 and exhibited for the first time in 2013 in Hong Kong. The cover of the book depicts the Monster Building, a residential complex in Quarry Bay which was later used as a set in the movie Transformers: Age of Extinction (2014) and has become a hotspot for photographer on social networks since then. The series was published as a photo book and exhibited for the first time in Hong Kong in 2016.

Concrete Stories Concrete Stories is a diptych of photo books published in 2018 and 2022. It consists in photographs capturing various moments on Hong Kong’s rooftops. It is focused on people’s lifestyle in the older districts of the city, especially in Kowloon which has the biggest density of old buildings. It documents how people make use of the space available on the shared rooftops of their buildings in order to cope with the restrained surface of their home.

City Poetry City Poetry is a project focused on old signage found in the oldest neighbourhoods of Hong Kong. The project consist of collage of characters selected for their meaning and complementary colours. City Poetry was first exhibited at Blue Lotus Gallery in Hong Kong in 2019. One artwork was selected as a part of the group show 'By the People - 字由人' at the Hong Kong Museum of Art from 2022 to 2023. City Poetry, Blue Lotus Gallery, Hong Kong, 2019.

Group

Hong Kong Dimensions, Blue Lotus Gallery, Hong Kong, 2019. Art & City at Times Square, organised by HKTDC, Hong Kong, 2022. One City, Two Tales, duo exhibition with Fan Ho, Unseen Amsterdam, September 2024.

Books Vertical Horizon. Hong Kong: Asia One Books, 2012. . Wild Concrete, Hong Kong: Asia One Books, 2014. . The Blue Moment, Hong Kong: Asia One Books, 2016. . Concrete Stories, Hong Kong: Asia One Books, 2018. . Concrete Stories II, Hong Kong: Asia One Books, 2022. . 獅子山三十六景 Thirty-Six Views of Hong Kong, Hong Kong: Blue Lotus Edition, 2022. .