Aquatic is the environment : the water is blue, calm, peaceful. Out of the depth, a woman goes through, aiming up for the light, with strong determination.
This series is about feminine energy, which makes women fill the surroundings with their courage and feel the emotions of the situation. When they are stuck in a difficult situation, this energy makes them beautiful, capable of doing incredible things, which includes giving life.
In those pictures I wanted to represent first the movement, then the expression of the model -- the nude character comes after. The equilibrium of the model is what makes each picture different from the others : identity, that is the common pont of my works.
The installation
As the author, viewing these images on screen is very frustrating since the exhibition is very different. Pictures are printed on canvas (90 x 90 cm = 35,43 inches), which makes the model life-size. I was honored by my friend Damien Saillard who created an ambient sound texture for this exhibition, which is very appropriate for navigating through this aquatic world and forget the outside world.The final installation was presented in Arles in 2017 for the first time with a great incentive from the public, that touched me since it took me about 3 years to develop this project. More than 2500 people went to see the first 2 exhibits of Aquatic, and that was such a great experience for me, with a lot of feedback, especially from women. It is very interesting to see that everybody expresses a preference, and that it is not the same picture.You can see some views of the prints and installation at the end of this page.
The painting effect
I developped a special effect based on filters that I called "painting effect", especially for canvas printing: since the background of the model is a drape (seersucker), the texture is quite large and very different from that of the canvas. So, when the visitor is looking at the background’s texture, it appears different from the texture on the model, as if of some different material, and this produces a painting effect on the model’s body. The best lightning of the canvas is from the top down (as you can see at the Chabeuil exhibition), focusing on the top of the canvas. This creates a high contrast between the (dark) wall and the light blue, so the aquatic ambience pervades the room.