Jean-Paul Bourdier is a photographer of unique style, skilled passion and compelling imagination. His images balance across the nexus of multiple crafts – among them painting, poetry, and performance art. He uses no digital enhancement; it is all analog photography.

Jean-Paul Bourdier is a Professor of Architecture, Photography and Visual Studies at the University of California, Berkeley. His earlier photographic publications include Leap Into the Blue, 2012; Bodyscapes, 2007; and he has authored books on traditional dwellings in West Africa (Vernacular Architecture of West Africa, 2011, Habiter Un Monde, 2005: Drawn From African Dwellings, 1996, and African Spaces, 1986) written with Trinh T. Minh-ha. He has collaborated with Trinh T. Minh-ha on several installations including The Desert is Watching (2003 Kyoto Art Biennale, Japan) and L’Autre marche (2006 Musee du Quai Branly, Paris).

He was co-producer and co-director of eight feature-length films directed by Trinh T. Minh-ha. He was born and raised in France, taught in Italy and Senegal, and moved to the US where he has taught in several universities. He permanently resides in California.