Literally

Focused on idiomatic expressions, the Literally series aims at questioning the language and its subjectivity, and by extent, our relation to others and to reality.

Very metaphorical by essence, idiomatic expressions distort the actual sense of usual words to create a new meaning.
As Magritte denounced the “treason of images”, the photographer here stages the treason of words, calling upon the photographic language and the universal nature of images in order to reduce them to their literal meaning before giving them a new significance.

In colourful, multi-layered compositions, the photographer tackles various relevant modern topics and let ultimately the viewer come up with its own interpretation.
(Images produced without AI.)

Du fil à retordre [To give some thread to twist]

Hear the little conflict, which drones on and on and on.
It’s always somewhere there, in the recesses of your brain, it keeps you awake at night.
What will they do next? How will you counterattack?
Who knows how it did even start? It has taken a momentum of its own now, it’s alive, it’s eating you up. You can only see the world through its lens.

In French “Donner du fil à retordre” (Give some thread to twist) means giving someone a hard time. It goes a long way back and only when I researched the expression did I discover that it was some thread and not some wire, as I initially thought, as “fil” can have both meanings in French.
I played on the ambiguity and used some wire, yet forming it into a loom pattern.

Se mettre au vert [Choosing the green]

In French, “Se mettre au vert” means go to the countryside to rest and chill.
Unfortunately, with the climate change and the biodiversity dwindling alarmingly, this might very soon be an expression no one will understand very much.

Chou vert et vert chou

Nested in the Literally series, the ongoing mini-series Chou vert et vert chou [Green cabbage, Cabbage green] deals with the way we perceive others.
Often confused with two of her friends, the photographer leverage the mirrored images to explore the mecanisms which allow us to recognize each other versus the way we consider apprehend ourselves.

Tête d’ampoule

In French, “lightbulb head” is an expression used to refer to an intelligent person in a very pejorative way, which I haven’t heard much since the 80s.
Little memory bubbles coming to burst at the surface of consciousness, transforming a derogatory expression in a colourful image through an inconsciuous cathartic process.

Du pain sur la planche

In French, you don’t have «a lot on your plate», but «some bread on the board».
You can read this image with two different filters.
First of all, I intended it as a message of hope to all overworked and burnt-out persons: while some tasks at hands seem too strenuous or demanding, in the end we’ll manage to slice the loafs down to the very last one, and it’ll be immensly satisfying.
But it also questions our way of life: how and why do we end up in such seemingly non-sensical, unsolvable situations, either in our professional or personnal lifes?

Marcher sur des œufs

In French like in English, the expression “Walking on eggs” refers to adopting a particularly cautious attitude.
In a context of climatic changes, this image also rests on the literal meaning to emphasize the carefulness we should exercise towards our environment: if we don’t want the biodiversity to dwindle even more, we should definitely think twice before stepping on these eggs.

Entrer comme dans un moulin

In French, going in as in a windmill refers to a place in which it’s extremely easy to get in.
By extension, it is sometimes used to qualify a popular place.
This is the meaning I chose to work on, reflecting on the influence of our surroundings on our identity.

Les yeux de merlan frit

In French, to look at someone with fried whiting eyes originally referred to enamoured eyes. The meaning of the expression has evolved, so that it conveys bafflement or lack of understanding nowadays.
This semantic shift compelled me to challenge the meaning of this idiom, weaving instead a narrative of literal and personal interpretation.
Through a self-portrait that makes use of a perfectly valid reading of these words and blurrs the notions of animated/unanimated subjects, I aim to put in perspective the very subjectivity of our everyday language.

Chou blanc

In French, “faire chou blanc”, litterally ” to do white cabbage” means “to fail”.
Each idiomatic expression is a story in itself, but what if we take them quite litterally, in order to make them tell an altogether totally different one?