Douglas Mandry explores the historical archives of the museé départemental Albert-Kahn (Paris) through a reinterpretation, challenging colonial and universalist perspectives. 

His work engages with Les Archives de la Planète, an early 20th-century project by Albert Kahn that sought to be one of the first to document the world in colour through photography. While intended as an encyclopaedic visual record, these archives impose standardised representations of nature. Mandry selects and transforms the documents through lithography printing and painting, altering their materiality to disrupt their documentary authority. His process embraces decay, abstraction and ambiguity, exposing the fragility of archives and the landscapes they depict. 

By questioning the permanence of memory and the constructed nature of images, Mandry invites a reexamination of historical narratives and environmental change. His work aligns with contemporary efforts to decolonise visual culture, revealing how landscapes bear witness to human impact and shifting power structures.