In 1873, a medicine man of the Lakota tribe, Black Elk suddenly fell ill. While his body was slipping and life was about to leave him, he received a vision. She was long, powerful, colorful. He lives the past and the future of his people. Towards the end of his vision, he stood on a high mount and watched the world at his feet. «I saw in a sacred way the forms of all things of the mind, and the form of all the forms that must live together as one being.»
And as quickly as sickness and vision had come to her, they began to retreat. «When the song was over, I felt lost and very lonely.»
Seule les étoiles resteront is very freely inspired by the vision of Black Elk.
A few months ago, I went several days in the Jura region in France. Having brought with me Heartbeat of Wounded Knee, a book by David Treuer addressing the theme of the Native americans, I then began to think of this people. While walking in the mountains, I had this strange feeling that the Native americans were hidden in these mountains and could arise from nowhere. That I could find traces of their passages.
By the biggest coincidence, my camera started to make images with a strange rendering. The idea then came to me to work on a series addressing the notion of dream.
This series is a visual poetry, a photographic and contemplative narration including autobiographical elements. It does not address a subject in the classical sense of the term. I put in pictures my feelings. In this work I approach the notions of place and time. Timelessness is a key element of the series. Getting lost in time and space is a feeling that I appreciate. The series sails between dream and reality. The real is the raw material with which I create a mystery. I mix everyday banality with intriguing images to build a personal work that gives the viewer the freedom to make their own opinion.
I approach the theme of extinction with the notion of the imaginary since the Native americans peoples have not disappeared. But for me they represent the victims of human madness that will perhaps one day lead us to the total disappearance of the human race, and that day, only the stars will remain.