Manu Payet

Late autumn in Paris. Manu Payet steps onto the stage of the Olympia for Emmanuel 2, a one-man show whose title quietly nods to the comedian’s own first name and to the idea of a sequel, a second act, a follow-up to a life already lived in front of audiences. Ludwig Favre photographs the night from the wings and from the apron of the stage, in the small intervals between the spotlights striking and the audience answering back. What this Manu Payet portrait series records is less the comedian than the comedian’s labor: the breath taken before a punchline, the half-turn toward the wings, the second of silence that lets a room laugh on its own time. Red velvet, the tall proscenium, the painted name above the marquee, the kind of classical theater the Olympia has framed since 1893. The full Manu Payet portrait sequence belongs to a tradition of French stage portraiture that the great photo magazines used to run as their inside spread, a careful study of a familiar face made unfamiliar by stage light.

A posture remains, a stillness captured; the echo of a moment held within the frame.

The human presence series by Ludwig Favre is available as a limited edition fine art print, signed and numbered.