Jim Jarmusch, known for his offbeat films with weird characters and existential undertones, has long been drawn to Surrealism. His works—such as ‘Stranger than Paradise’ (1984), a minimalist black-and-white comedy, and ‘Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai’ (1999), the story of a principled hitman—often feature surreal narrative elements, where oddities take precedence over plot structure. In ‘Broken Flowers’ (2005), for example, a trail of pink objects offers visual clues to character development, but little plot resolution, exemplifying Jarmusch’s unique use of surreal devices in storytelling.
For Jarmusch, Surrealism has always been about looking at the world differently. “The beauty of Surrealism is looking at things in a different way,” he shares. “It’s about juxtaposing the mundane and fantastical.” His introduction to Surrealism as a teenager was a “revelation” that initially came through its visual aesthetics and later through literature. By his twenties, the movement had led him to Paris, “where I repeatedly used [André] Breton’s “Nadja” as a kind of walking map through the mysterious nocturnal streets of the city,” he said.
This week, Jarmusch revisits Paris for the Paris Photo fair, where he has curated a selection of 34 photographs to mark the centenary of Surrealism. His collection isn’t strictly composed of Surrealist works but, as Jarmusch explains, “reflects its tenets of the transformation of the ordinary into the dreamlike, and at times vice-versa.”
Among the highlights of Jarmusch’s curated collection are notable works such as David Hockney’s 1970s swimming pool photographs, shown by Equinox Gallery, and Peter Hujar’s eerie catacomb images, presented by Stephen Daiter’s booth. Another standout is Robert Frank’s iconic portrait of Jack Kerouac, part of a fair-wide tribute to the Swiss-American photographer on his 100th birthday. Jarmusch, a close friend of Frank, credits him as a significant influence on his own films.
Many of the works Jarmusch chose feature outsider figures, echoing the unusual characters that populate his films. For example, Japanese photographer Kenshichi Heshiki’s evocative images of mid-century Okinawa and its marginalized inhabitants, showcased at Ibasho’s booth, draw the viewer into a world of quiet rebellion. Similarly, Lisetta Carmi’s 1960s-era photographs of Genoa’s trans community—on display at Martini and Ronchetti—capture moments of both gritty reality and joyful resistance.
Jarmusch also included contemporary artists like Zanele Muholi, whose 2019 portrait ‘OwakheX’ explores themes of race and identity, and Dawoud Bey, whose ominous image of a house encircled by a white picket fence speaks to an unsettling vision of American life. These works, though rooted in the present, still carry the dreamlike transformation characteristic of Surrealism.
On the eve of the fair, Jarmusch hosted a preview of ‘Le Retour à la raison’, a compilation of four short silent films by Man Ray from the 1920s. Recently restored and scored with post-rock music by SQÜRL—Jarmusch’s experimental guitar band—the films reflect his deep admiration for Man Ray’s inventive approach to photography and film. Jarmusch has been improvising music to these films for over a decade, and the resulting score, recorded at Centre Pompidou, perfectly complements the century-old footage.
Alongside his film career, Jarmusch is also a practicing visual artist specializing in photography and collage. He is set to have an exhibition with James Fuentes Gallery in Los Angeles next year.
Paris Photo will run through Sunday, November 10, at the Grand Palais in Paris.
