French Kiss

Swedish born, Anders Petersen is a world renowned photographer, noted forhis intimate and personal documentary-style black-and-white photographs. Petersen explores the fringes of society and his images depict a raw, andsometimes disturbingly brutal, social portrait. Taken in the South ofFrance, French Kiss is characteristic Petersen, exuding the poetic sadness,restlessness and sense of urgency that runs through all his work. When thework was first shown at Arles Photography Festival the response wasastounding: ‘They made everything else on display at the huge photographyfestival pale in comparison. They became the ‘buzz' in Arles. Andeveryone realized that Anders Petersen (that wildly energetic 62-year-oldguy) is still making some of the most arresting personal documentaryphotographs today - Jim Casper, Lens Culture. Petersen first became known for his series Café Lehmitz, a daily chronicleof the regulars - transvestites, prostitutes, drug addicts and harbourworkers - of a Hamburg bar in the Reeperbahn, the city's once notoriousred-light district. Starting in 1967, Petersen continued the project forthree years. The photobook of the same name was published eight yearslater, in 1978, first in Germany, and then in France (1979) and Sweden(1982). Café Lehmitz has since become regarded as a seminal book in thehistory of European photography.