LES APPARENCES, 2025

Les apparences is a work in which I become a character who embodies and reveals himself, seeking to escape the social condemnation of homosexuality that he has probably internalised. Through these self-staging, shame becomes a transformative energy and photography a tool of emancipation. From the fear of stigma to its reversal. From the process that leads from the closet to the stage. In the image Back #1, a male back, deprived of arms and head, rests on a grey paper plinth held by a metal rod. The background is also grey paper, this time in a lighter tone, thereby decontextualizing the entire scene. One can see a reference to sculptures that glorify a certain perfection of the male body, reminiscent of the ancient works of Myron or the more realistic and symbolic pieces by Rodin. However, the deliberately artificial, sanitized aesthetic of the image calls this lineage into question and heightens a sense of bodily discontinuity. The digital removal of certain limbs further unsettles our perception, alluding both to the personification of a censored, clandestine desire that one might try to recover through various forms of representation such as sculpture, and to certain beauty standards and to the posture both physical and social of the male body, historically entrenched, as notably explored by Alix Marie in several of her works and by Matthieu Croizier in his series Everything Goes Dark A Little Further Down. The video La bonne éducation presents an empty stage devoid of any audience, introduced by several cameras positioned to encompass the entirety of the space. I then enter the stage, embodying a character distrustful of an absent audience. Remaining inactive at first, the character then splits into several figures, each reacting in their own way under the gaze of an imaginary audience evoked by the empty seats. The intention behind this video is to address the fear of stigma and the strategies deployed to avoid revealing oneself, echoing texts by Didier Eribon and Édouard Louis. This audience, whether it exists or is merely a figment of the protagonist’s imagination, assumes a fundamental place, given that the protagonist addresses only this audience, performing certain roles so as not to expose himself. Presented as a split screen, the video may recall Gabriela Löffel’s Performance and thus explores ideas of role multiplicity, self-censorship, social posture, and self-fabulation. Finally, the project takes the form of an installation, a wooden box with the dimensions of a photo booth, intended to evoke the allegory of the closet. In this way, it emphasises the idea of a metaphorical and physical space where identity is both concealed and affirmed. The images arranged and stapled on the outside thus seek to shift the symbolic burden into the public realm, making visible what tends to be hidden, while inside the video is shown on a television screen, reinforcing the notions of concealment and intimacy.

Back #1, From the series Les apparences, 2023,
Pigment print on proofing paper,
64 x 48 cm

Self-portraits, From the series Les apparences, 2024,Pigment print on baryta paper,
14,5 x 10,5 cm each

Bust #1, From the series Les apparences, 2023,
Pigment print on proofing paper,
64 x 48 cm

La bonne éducation, From the series Les apparences, 2025,4K digital video (16:9), color, sound, 5' 51" (looped),
single-channel installation

View of the exhibition Sudden, unpredictable actions,
Salle Perrier, Renens,
2025

View of the exhibition Sudden, unpredictable actions,
Salle Perrier, Renens,
2025

View of the exhibition Sudden, unpredictable actions,
Salle Perrier, Renens,
2025

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