Places hold memories: photographer explores enduring sites
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Aurélien Villette photographed locations around the world to explore how places stay with us long after we leave them, a concept he calls “Topophilia.”
He doesn’t simply document architecture, but investigates the emotional connection between people and buildings, ruins, and landscapes. Villette’s work captures how our perceptions shape spaces, turning them into experiences and attachments. In Beirut, Lebanon, Villette photographed the Grand Théâtre des Mille et Une Nuits, a theatre built in 1929 and later abandoned after the civil war.
He observed how the theatre existed outside of the city’s constant movement, a silent space hidden behind barriers. Light filtering through the theatre’s stained-glass dome particularly struck him, returning him to capture the effect at different times of day. Villette also travelled to Koh Ker, Cambodia, an ancient capital of the Khmer Empire. There, he focused on Prasat Pram, a tenth-century sanctuary where tree roots have grown over the brickwork.
He aimed to photograph the site when few visitors were present, allowing the architecture and landscape to blend together, emphasizing the passage of time and the site’s enduring presence. His photographs show how the temple's history merges with the natural processes that have reshaped it over a millennium.
