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EnglishSymbiosis
Symbiosis
« We are all brothers under the skin — and I, for one, would be willing to skin humanity to prove it. »
[Ayn Rand]
SYMBIOSIS – Theory
Symbiosis has for obsession the will to juxtapose two people in only one shot and to create a new hybrid
being. No photomontage, no double exposure, only a long exposure and light painting.
This series gathers every age, every morphology, so the resulting image instils doubt to the viewer. The
alchemy must be subtle to let room for the natural imperfections of the shot.
The culmination of this photographic process is the « participative » side of it, with the models helping with
the conception of the picture. The artist teaches each model the illumination process. That way, each one of
them relays the other during the shooting process to enlighten the model (or the artist) after training for a
while: the gesture is then unsure, fumbling, but it adds sense to the depth of the picture itself and to the
premiere intention.
Symbiosis is the fragile reflection of sharing both body and mind with another Being.
Wouldn’t Symbiosis be finally questioning everyone’s perception and the boundaries of the latter?
Process
In the beginning, there have been many trials. Hours of research and from superposition to superposition,
the artist asked himself if maybe it was possible to mix the photographer and his model together: the one
becoming the other without photomontage or any kind of digital software.
After an entire day of trials, the so hoped result arrived: the photographical osmosis was there, under the
eyes of the artist and his first model. The amalgamation of two persons to create only One, a subtle and
sensitive hybridization.
The process used to achieve this creation is the light painting.
A digital camera installed on a tripod, a more-than-a-minute-long exposure, a work entirely done in the
darkness.
The light is obtained in two steps. First, half of the first model is enlightened for a few seconds before
going back to darkness. After a quick change, the new model’s opposite half is then enlightened as well.
For the consistency of this series, Florent is always on the left side of the photographs.
The length of exposure is of two minutes, enough amount of time to move in the darkness. The shooting of
each photograph lasted between 17 minutes and more than 4 hours according to the number of trials and of
their fruitfulness.
« We are all brothers under the skin — and I, for one, would be willing to skin humanity to prove it. »
[Ayn Rand]
SYMBIOSIS – Theory
Symbiosis has for obsession the will to juxtapose two people in only one shot and to create a new hybrid
being. No photomontage, no double exposure, only a long exposure and light painting.
This series gathers every age, every morphology, so the resulting image instils doubt to the viewer. The
alchemy must be subtle to let room for the natural imperfections of the shot.
The culmination of this photographic process is the « participative » side of it, with the models helping with
the conception of the picture. The artist teaches each model the illumination process. That way, each one of
them relays the other during the shooting process to enlighten the model (or the artist) after training for a
while: the gesture is then unsure, fumbling, but it adds sense to the depth of the picture itself and to the
premiere intention.
Symbiosis is the fragile reflection of sharing both body and mind with another Being.
Wouldn’t Symbiosis be finally questioning everyone’s perception and the boundaries of the latter?
Process
In the beginning, there have been many trials. Hours of research and from superposition to superposition,
the artist asked himself if maybe it was possible to mix the photographer and his model together: the one
becoming the other without photomontage or any kind of digital software.
After an entire day of trials, the so hoped result arrived: the photographical osmosis was there, under the
eyes of the artist and his first model. The amalgamation of two persons to create only One, a subtle and
sensitive hybridization.
The process used to achieve this creation is the light painting.
A digital camera installed on a tripod, a more-than-a-minute-long exposure, a work entirely done in the
darkness.
The light is obtained in two steps. First, half of the first model is enlightened for a few seconds before
going back to darkness. After a quick change, the new model’s opposite half is then enlightened as well.
For the consistency of this series, Florent is always on the left side of the photographs.
The length of exposure is of two minutes, enough amount of time to move in the darkness. The shooting of
each photograph lasted between 17 minutes and more than 4 hours according to the number of trials and of
their fruitfulness.
