Exhibitions?

This series was developed as an ACT OF CITIZENSHIP, expressed through by and as ART, and has, till now (2018), remained private.

As the anniversary of the RITIRADA was celebrated, the project discretely echoed these commemorations in parallel, as part of a 'DEVOIR DE MÉMOIRE'.



(à suivre/to be continued...)

6.03.2009:
two years on, the project is still awaiting a context and an opportunity to be seen.
As an individual act of citizenship, it retains it value,
but three artist residencies and a three month curatorial visit to India and Pakistan (for the THOUGH OTHER EYES and PARALLEL LINES exhibitions), and other projects, have kept this project dormant...

January 2018:
A visit to the Mémorial de Rivesaltes confirms that official accounts of HISTORY tend to define responsibilities in rather abstract terms that enable the real authors of exactions to fall to outside the frame  and escape JUSTICE; like those anonymous guards of the camp who stole food destined to the prisoners; causing some to die of hunger... 

EXHIBITIONS?

DYPTYCH

FORMAT: DYPTYCH AND POLYPTYCH

I photograph about fifty barracks, over two days; then have the films developed.

Meanwhile, I consider how the images may be presented: with and without text…

The DYPTYCH format seems effective. Separating image and text enables the mind to move between text and image differently. With its new emphasis, the text acquires the status of monumental inscription.

ELOGES DE LA PERSPECTIVE: SERIES 2

I return to the Camp on a hot Summer's day and set out to photograph the barracks with a medium format camera.
The square format takes me away from the postcard association of the first series...

PRINTING

A first proof (1/5) of 'Eight Postcards from Rivesaltes was printed in Dundee School of Art, by Mark Hunter, in 2006, on 310 gsm Lyson acid-free, archival smooth fine art paper:

PHOTO + TEXT

Overlayering the text over the image brings together two acts of witnessing: the text, anchored in the time of the event, and the photographic trace of a derelict site which bears the traces of successive half-hearted attempts at bulldozing it, as evidence of a 21st century mourning, in retrospect.

TRANSLATION:
13th March 1942, evening

'I went to Camp J: three are dying of hunger. One looks terrified. The other is in a state of total confusion. The third, a German, answers with a smile —'well'— to my question 'How are you feeling?'. His gaze is devoid of craving. One senses that he no longer needs anything.'