Biography
Bearing the imprint of his sensory experiences, Dan Ramaën’s photographs are deeply rooted in the attentive relationship he establishes with his subjects and their surroundings.
Born in northern France, he graduated in photography from the Institut Saint-Luc in Tournai, Belgium, before settling in Normandy.
Conceived as photographic essays, his series explore his relationship to time (Momento, Conjuration) and to otherness (Me Llamo, Inuk). This approach enters into dialogue with the writings of Henry David Thoreau (Looking for Walden), André Markowicz (Herem) and Samuel Gallet (Le Pays Innocent).
Encounters also play a central role in his work, leading him to forge a distinctive connection with the performing arts. He has collaborated with composer Olivier Mellano since 2007, joined stage director David Gauchard’s company L’Unijambiste in 2008, and became a member of Collectif Eskandar in 2021. Together with his close collaborators, he develops projects conceived for exhibition, publication or performance.
From 2018 to 2020, he was an associate artist at La Commanderie – Arts visuels (Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines), a period devoted to creative residencies and multidisciplinary projects across the region, in collaboration with INRAE (Versailles), Le Prisme (Élancourt) and TSQY, Scène nationale, as well as in Mexico with the Alliance Française de Querétaro.
Alongside his artistic practice, he is involved in educational and community-based projects, leading workshops for a wide range of audiences, including visually impaired teenagers (Miramar) and adults with psychosocial disabilities.
Conceived as photographic essays, his series explore his relationship to time (Momento, Conjuration) and to otherness (Me Llamo, Inuk). This approach enters into dialogue with the writings of Henry David Thoreau (Looking for Walden), André Markowicz (Herem) and Samuel Gallet (Le Pays Innocent).
Encounters also play a central role in his work, leading him to forge a distinctive connection with the performing arts. He has collaborated with composer Olivier Mellano since 2007, joined stage director David Gauchard’s company L’Unijambiste in 2008, and became a member of Collectif Eskandar in 2021. Together with his close collaborators, he develops projects conceived for exhibition, publication or performance.
From 2018 to 2020, he was an associate artist at La Commanderie – Arts visuels (Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines), a period devoted to creative residencies and multidisciplinary projects across the region, in collaboration with INRAE (Versailles), Le Prisme (Élancourt) and TSQY, Scène nationale, as well as in Mexico with the Alliance Française de Querétaro.
Alongside his artistic practice, he is involved in educational and community-based projects, leading workshops for a wide range of audiences, including visually impaired teenagers (Miramar) and adults with psychosocial disabilities.
CURRENT PROJECTS
Murmurations
Noires Corbières
Tout ce qui reste à venir
NowHere
RECENT EXHIBITIONS
2025 — Looking for Walden #3, Casa de Cultura Les Bernardes, Girona, Spain
2024 — Looking for Walden #2, Macparis, Paris, France
2023 — Perception(s) de la Recherche INRAE, touring exhibition, Île-de-France
2022 — Looking for Walden #1, La Commanderie / SQY, France
2021 — Perception(s) de la Recherche INRAE, La Commanderie / SQY, France
2020 — Memento Corpus, TEC, Plaisir, France
Me Llamo, Le Prisme, Élancourt, France
Looking for Walden #1, Festival Terre de Paroles, Quais de Duclair, France
Walden, Théâtre de Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines / Scène Nationale, France
Serres INRAE, La Commanderie / SQY, France
2019 — Memento Corpus, La Commanderie / SQY, France
Me Llamo, Centro de la Imagen, Santiago de Querétaro, Mexico
DOCUMENTARY WORK
2024 — Ateliers Sainte-Claire, Rouen, France
2021 — Perception(s) de la Recherche INRAE, Versailles, France
2020 — Serres INRAE, Versailles, France
2019 — Querétaro #1 and #2, Mexico
2018 — Maloya, Réunion Island
2018 — Cavadee, Réunion Island
2017 — Colombia, Barranquilla, Medellín and Bogotá
2014 — Kangiqsujuaq, Nunavik Expedition
PUBLICATIONS
2020 — Looking for Walden – Notebook / USA 2019
52-page travel notebook, 200 numbered copies, text by Samuel Gallet
Published by Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines — ISBN 978-2-9575553-0-7
2017 — Sometimes notes stop time
Box set, photographs by Alanté Kavaïté and Dan Ramaën, text by Olivier Mellano
Published by Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines — ISBN 979-10-94098-02-8
2012 — Herem
300-page photobook, text by André Markowicz, music by Olivier Mellano
Published by Dernier Télégramme — ISBN 978-2-917136-61-4
PRESS
Various features in the music and theatre press
(Les Inrockuptibles, Rock & Folk, Rolling Stone, Théâtre(s), La Scène, etc.)