Mackie Lines, analog photography series by Hugo Chazot-Ranquet

Hugo Chazot Ranquet

Series

Mackie Lines

Mackie Lines is the first sustained body of work to emerge from The Grain Project. It holds the human figure at the threshold where a body becomes a shape. A presence surfaces and recedes at once, never fully arriving.

The figures are veiled, anonymous, refracted through fluted glass and prisms until contour loosens into abstraction. Solarisation and the Mackie line operate here as grammar, the means by which light is made to eat its own edges. Highlights stay veiled. Blacks stay deep.

The result sits closer to charcoal drawing than to reportage. Sculptural and quiet, it asks to be read slowly.

The lineage is legible without being worn. Blumenfeld's solarised nudes, Kertész's distortions, the dissolving bodies of Bill Jacobson, the veiled figures of Trine Søndergaard. To that conversation the work brings an insistence on the print as the work itself.

Mackie Lines closes at thirty images in December 2026.

A narrow sliver of a face glimpsed through fluted glass, one hand gripping the edge of the glass panel, the rest of the body dissolving into striped bands
A face pressed behind fluted glass, one raised hand above the head and another hand flat against the glass at chest height, both dissolving into vertical striped bands
A figure with head tilted back and eyes closed, one hand raised to the throat, wearing a beaded necklace and matching earring against a dark background
A figure with head fully tilted back, features lost in shadow, throat and necklace lit against a dark gradated background
A bearded profile silhouette, the head partly eclipsed by a large pale circle against a plain background
A closed fist reaches through fluted glass, fingers curling as the arm dissolves into fine vertical striped bands trailing into darkness
A hand rests against the ruched fabric of a dress, the arm bent at the elbow, grain and fabric texture rendered in fine detail
A hand and forearm emerge from a solid black circle, fingers curled, heavy film grain throughout the plain background
A hand and forearm cross a diagonal band of light and dark, dissolving into vertical striped bands as if seen through fluted glass
A head entirely wrapped and knotted in pale fabric, the face completely hidden beneath the twisted cloth, dark jacket visible at the shoulders
A wide-brimmed dark hat obscures a bare-shouldered figure's face entirely, one hand resting across the chest, solarised high-contrast lighting against a plain background
A veiled silhouette behind fluted glass, the head crowned by a dark rounded shape, the whole body broken into vertical bands against a pale background
A man in a striped shirt, tie and suit jacket, his face rendered as a vertical motion blur so no features are visible, hair in sharp focus above
A bearded man's profile rendered as a vertical motion blur, jacket collar in sharp focus below the dissolving features
A man in a light suit with arms crossed, his face reduced to a pale motion-blurred blank, tie and jacket in sharp focus
A bald figure seen from behind, both hands raised on either side of the head, palms open, silhouetted against a pale background
A man in a striped shirt and tie, his face streaked into a horizontal motion blur, hair and shoulders in sharp focus
A silhouetted head and shoulders in profile, partly eclipsed by a large pale circle of light against a plain background
A hand reaches toward a solid black circle, fingers curled as if brushing its edge, set against a plain pale background
A dark silhouette of shoulders and neck, the lower half cropped by a large pale circle against a plain grey background
A close abstract study of a torso curve, dark shadow meeting pale skin along a soft diagonal line, heavy film grain throughout
A face behind fluted glass framed by a raised hand above and a second hand pressed flat at the chest, the features breaking into vertical striped bands
A narrow sliver of a face glimpsed through fluted glass, one hand gripping the edge of the glass panel, the rest of the body dissolving into striped bands
A figure with a downward gaze and closed eyes, one hand raised to the jaw, an earring catching the light against a pale background
A profile portrait with head tilted back, hair swept off the face, neck and jaw lit against a dark background
An abstracted portrait with half the face left blank, a hand resting on the bare shoulder, the visible eye and mouth rendered in fine detail
A bald figure seen from behind, both hands raised high on either side of the head, palms open, against a soft grey background

Mackie Lines grows out of The Grain Project. For the earlier street work, see Human Trajectories. Prints and editions are listed under Print.