Say something about yourself?

 

Hello, I’m a photographer based in Paris.

 

What is this series?

 

In front of The Palace of Versailles, statues are wrapped for winter to avoid rain infiltration that could freeze and break the stone.

 

During this time, Hercules, Venus and Bacchante become trapped in vertical body bags.

 

For millions of tourists every year, these covered shapes will be the only memories they keep of the beautiful statues in Versailles : they can only imagine what’s behind.

 

In the photographic series Mummies, I want to show that a hidden statue could be more interesting than the statue itself. It’s a tribute to the subconscious art of the gardener who wrapped these antique representations.

 

How/When did you start this series?

 

I was born and raised in Paris. I went to Versailles Palace for the first time, I was like a tourist in my own city. The garden was beautiful, but I couldn’t see any statues ! They were all wrapped for the winter. I liked the esthetic of them. I thought it would be a nice photo project.

What do you want to tell the audience about this work?

 

I don’t want to tell anything.

 

I like the fact that people perceive those pictures in a very different way. I’ve shown them to my entourage and the perception feedback were really disparate. Some people think about dead people in body bags or about the terrible picture of the abu grahib prisoner being tortured.

 

Some other people think they are beautiful, they think about princess dresses standing on the marble podium, like in a fashion week exhibition.

 

I love wrapped stuff, it’s really beautiful in my opinion, in love the contemporary artist Christo’s work for example.

 

People doing art without knowing it fascinate me, I love subconscious art. I love to imagine the gardener wrapping the statues, without thinking about the fact that it could be considered esthetic by some weird photographer. If you watch ordinary stuff with a different point of view, it can become art. I think it’s interesting.

 

When you watch those wrapped statues, you can just imagine what’s behind. I love the mystery, when a photography raise a question instead of giving an answer.