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PHOTOGRAPHIE
Until June 4th, the Centquatre (Paris XIXth) hosts the 13th edition of the Circulation(s) Festival dedicated to young European photography. On the program, 27 artists of 14 different nationalities are to be discovered during an immersive scenography. Coming from all over Europe, Ann Massal, Kinga Wrona and Peter Pflügler make the public travel in their vision of the world through their lens.
An "incorrigible idealist" as she likes to define herself, Ann Massal questions the ambivalence that can exist between love and violence with her series of photographs On Love, Violence and the Lack of It. With a subversive/dissident scenography elaborated around the word "thanatosis", the artist wanted "to try to retranscribe this tension, between Thanatosis (death) and Eros (love), at least visually". Her shots, often raw, aim to question the public without imposing a Manichean vision of things. With photography, Ann Massal manages to illustrate what can not always be stated while offering a perspective to the public so that "everyone can appropriate this story, project their own experience", says the photographer.
After living in Spain for several years, Kinga Wrona discovered the volcanic eruption on the island of La Palma, in the Canary Islands, while reading the press. In September 2021, the Cumbre Vieja erupted for 85 days, completely transforming the landscape of the island. A tragedy that moved and questioned the photographer : "I was wondering how it is to live on land which is like a 'bomb' and can explode anytime and force you to leave everything". The photographic series 85 documents the aftermath of this natural disaster with shots that bear witness to an apocalyptic beauty. "I found the island quiet and calm, some images I found there were a ‘beautiful nature phenomenon’ but at the same time what happened on la Palma was a big social tragedy". The photographer also brought back volcanic ashes from her trip, which is on display at Centquatre, to give another dimension to her photos.
Now it's not the right time explores the personal story of Peter Pflügler whose childhood was marked by his father's suicide attempt. Produced over a period of four years, this photographic series returns to the themes of family, secret and the weight of silence. To deal with these subjects, the photographer becomes a visual storyteller to stage his childhood memories : "I tried to find a metaphorical, evocative visual language, that is with one foot in the actual scenery, in the present, with the other foot somewhere else, in a hidden place, in a different time". This project was for Peter Pflügler a healing experience that breaks the silence : both his own, and as he hopes, the silence of others : "I don’t believe in secrets. In the end, my work always tries to break the silence. My own silence, but it is also an invitation for others to think about the covered spots in their surroundings. Every story is different, everyone needs their own time, and yet the mechanism of silence is always similar. If the audience gets inspired to think about that, it would mean a lot to me".
The Circulation(s) Festival to be discovered at the Centquatre (Paris XIXe) until June 4th.
