Diverted paths (2013)

During my stay in Clairvaux in the Ardennes forest. I discovered a dormant landscape : The end of autumn is a time when the land is at rest and forests become forlorn places.  I felt like the sole visitor of these great silent spaces.  The unspoilt beauty of this harsh country has to be earnt, the light is rare and elusive, the rain in constant dialogue with the environment. Night comes rapidly and nibbles at the shortening days.  I chose to work during this season to document the backstage of a site, it’s atmosphere stripped from the appealing charm the milder days give to it. The strength of the elements  give their rhythm to each day and night and confer an untamed feeling to the place.  I wandered through Clairvaux as on an empty stage, momentarily deserted, where only the settings remain.  Light and darkness were my only interlocutors, and the night offered many rich scenes carrying the land into a world of onirism. Striding through this lonely area, my drive was to bring back images that would be like fragments of dreams at awakening.