Thaddé Comar

b. 1993 France-Switzerland

Based in Saint-Ouen-sur-Seine (France)

‘How Was Your Dream?  is a photographic project realised during the Hong Kong protests between June and October 2019. This work deals with new forms of demonstration and insurrection in our post–contemporary era dominated by seamless control societies. 

Five years before, in Hong Kong, the Umbrella Movement was quickly repressed by state and police violence. In 2019, the democratic uprising that began in May resolved to take whatever measures necessary to continue their resistance. Faced with a sophisticated arsenal of control (facial recognition, geolocation, carding, eavesdropping, infiltration, water cannons, tear gas, helicopter, sonic weapons, nonlethal rifles), the Hong Kong demonstrators have developed a repertoire of techniques based on principles of invisibility and untraceability (anonymity, blinding lasers, faraday pockets, drone footage, masks of all kinds, encrypted communication, etc.), allowing them to mitigate the effects of repression. 

These new devices – which contribute to the transformation of the forms struggle and resistance take – push, however, for the gradual erasure of individual singularities. In the future, will societies and sophisticated systems of control force us to make our human singularities disappear? Will this be done in favour of a new common identity?’

thaddecomar.com
instagram.com/thddcmr

Images:

1-Thaddé Comar, Comrade #1, #2, #3, #4, #5, #6, #7, #8, #9, #10, 2019, from the series How Was Your Dream? © Thaddé Comar 

2-Thaddé Comar, Black Dog, 2019, from the series How Was Your Dream? © Thaddé Comar 

Bringing together 66 artists from across the world, Photo Elysée celebrates emerging talent with the touring exhibition Gen Z: Shaping a New Gaze, currently on display at Fotografie Forum Frankfurt, Germany, until 30 August 2026. As media partner, 1000 Words is featuring the work and accompanying texts of all participating artists in our weekly column dedicated to new voices in contemporary photography.