2023-05-14 17:35:54
Horses, stags, wild boars, foxes, hares, ducks, swifts, dragons or chimeras have found refuge in the mansions, castles, churches or mills hidden in the hollow of the hilly landscapes of the southern Perche, some of these places only opening their doors on festival time weekends. These are twenty views of contemporary artists who, through photography, engraving, painting, drawing, sculpture, video and installation, question our relationship with animals.
“Endangered or abused, the animal presence is everywhere in our society, enriching both our culture and our humanity. The image occupies an essential place in animal thought because it makes it possible to project the debates in complete freedom. specifies the art historian Christine Ollier, the creative dynamic of the festival, installed in the region for a few years, after having directed the Parisian contemporary art gallery Les Filles du Calvaire.
Born from its desire to reconcile high artistic standards with social, cultural and economic commitment, Le Champ des impossibles also supports contemporary creation with the production of works, an artist residency program and the publication of monographic notebooks. The total budget of the festival is equivalent to 200,000 €, of which a little more than half is financed by public and private partners as well as sponsorship, the remainder corresponding to voluntary work – including the faithful involvement of the population without which the adventure could not continue.
Artists in residence
The stone walls of the gothic priory of Sainte-Gauburge provide a grandiose setting for Yves Trémorin’s photographs taken in the heart of the region’s equine breeding herds during his photographic residency. These large formats celebrate the power of the horse, the emblematic animal of Perche, which the photographer has chosen to magnify with detail, placing it at the center of his images in bay, chestnut, black or cream colours. A frontal and sensual dive into an organic universe of flesh, coat, mane, earth from which he deliberately excluded man.
A few kilometers further on, Anne Rearick invites us to another approach to the territory, who exhibits the results of her residence in the impressive Courboyer manor, erected at the end of the 15th century. Most often traveling on foot, the American photographer went to meet the inhabitants, their animals and their landscapes. A man strokes a donkey, a teenage girl is lying on her pony, a little boy curls up against his dog, sheep take the cool in the shade of a tree, a mother hugs her children to her chest, elderly people dance .
We find in this series all the softness and the delicacy of his work which testify to the quality of the meeting, the empathy which opens the doors to him and conquers the hearts. Always working in silver and black and white, in square format, the prints she does herself combine all the subtlety of the gray palette.
The secret life of beasts
Before leaving, a walk in the park is a must: a photographic tour presents the work on the nightlife of the forest by the young documentary photographer Jimmy Beunardeau. A native of the country, he has been exploring animal trails since his youth, he has captured animal life at dusk or in the moonlight, restoring its mystery and majesty in large prints in muted colors.
This same range of colors made of black, deep green, dark brown, burnt red or yellow earth is found in WILD, the work of Aurélie Scouarnec exhibited at the Pocket Galerie in Nocé. The young photographer immersed herself in a care and reacclimatization center for wild animals in distress. In a chiaroscuro reminiscent of Rembrandt’s canvases, her gaze stops on gestures of care, on the hands that nourish, rehabilitate, dress and clean.
A form at the frontier of documentary and visual photography, a sensitivity similar to the expressive mode of animals, to the thinnest signs and variations are found in Francesca Todde’s series, A Sensitive Education, exhibited at the Moulin Blanchard. But contrary to the care provided to wildlife where contact must be as brief as possible, the aim here is to imbue the animal with human presence. The Italian photographer followed a bird educator who prepares them to work for theater and cinema. The series sensitively explores the possibilities of empathy and reconciliation between man and bird.
The animal support of our imaginations
Since the dawn of time, the animal has also been a tremendous support for our imaginations, whether it be mythology or fables. Whether we lend him human virtues or extraordinary powers, whether we deify him, whether we celebrate his closeness to man or his savagery, he is an ever-renewed source of inspiration for artists. The rest of this journey between nature and culture offers us beautiful and strange encounters with works from the imagination of renowned artists such as Françoise Pétrovitch or the photographer Karen Knorr, less publicized artists such as the ceramic sculptor Manoli Gonzalez or even emerging young talents.
Among them, let’s meet the petrified animals in Sylvain Wavrant’s installation, the baroque votive creatures, adorned with pearls, trimmings and brocades by Benoit Huot, the humble donkey in the delicate canvases of Djabril Boukhenaissi or the beastly madness and other drypoint engravings by Camille Pozzo Di Borgo.
A particular favorite for the colorful and humorous ceramics by Marina Le Gall presented in the church of Saint-Aubin: she-wolf holding a goose on her knees like a pietà, standing bear riddled with arrows like Saint Sebastian, dragon struggling with Saint George. Between tale, fable and caricature, the young artist finds her inspiration in the observation of the animals that she rubs shoulders with since childhood on the family farm, in the memories of the religious education she received in the Catholic establishments of her native Brittany and in the news seen through press cartoons, which she herself practiced for a time.
#Perche #art #animals #countryside