gallery

Autour du ruisseau
[Around the Brook]

1999 - 2005

During her walks and gatherings in the woods, Dominique Laquerre brings back to her workshop photographs of an often-visited brook. Her approach being one of involvement, she refuses to opt for a romantic, idealized idea of Nature. For Laquerre, human beings’ sense of belonging to their territory is as much a matter of action and deep experience, than a matter of repeated, attentive visits. This set of pieces is however more contemplative, inspired by the writings of authors such as H.D. Thoreau, Ernst Junger and Gaston Bachelard.

          Hundreds of silver photographs ended up spread on top of the tables in my workshop. A slow settling-and-treating process began. These composite artworks develop through chance encounters, juxtapositions, changes in settings and orientation scrambled by the symmetries already found in the pictures. In the course of that process, Bachelard’s words about the twin images of water often came back to me: “They are the hinges of dreams.”
              Dominique Laquerre, 1999

To create these compositions, the artist has applied digital technologies with restraint and finesse. The result brings each picture closer to abstraction, letting free numerous possible interpretations. Laquerre has printed a selection of photos on textile, bringing an unexpected level of fluidity to the medium. Bodies of water and wooden tables; mirrors and old books; small installations evoking a bed head as much as the moss-laden, intimate surroundings of the brook.

Translated by François Couture