At first glance, the works presented here might seem to be simply about work on a motif. A more attentive look, however, shows that what is indicated here, in this focus on trees, or icebergs, or clouds, is the shaping of natural elements by human action on a landscape that has become an environment.
Jocelyn Philibert, Arbres
For more than ten years, Jocelyn Philibert has been photographing trees at night, lit up by his flash, with what might seem a naturalistic aim. Isolated and magnified by the lighting, these trees appear more beautiful than in nature. In fact, this supplementary reality is the result of an assemblage of multiple shots. Then, the framing widens, the tree becomes a thicket, then a woods, and then the human habitat appears . . .
With an essay by Franck Michel
Alain Lefort, Eidôlon
In the series Eidôlon, Alain Lefort describes the drifting and slow melting of icebergs. He constructs a narrative toward the abstract, from the approach of the object to its disappearance. White dots on the horizon become immense, drifting hieratic monuments. Then, a series of close-ups show an almost entirely white, increasingly abstract surface. The Eidolon is a double, an apparition of the image, but also a simulacrum.
With an essay by Francine Paul
Denis Farley, Espaces aériens
Denis Farley’s spectacular clouds seem to be markers for forces shaking Earth’s atmosphere. Yet, the titles of his images speak more of an overhead space: the strategic space of the data network. Thus, the ideas of flow and circulation are evoked here, around something immaterial that is very concrete, anchored in server farms.
With an essay by Daniel Fiset