Vendredi 03 Août 2012 15:13:22 par actuphoto dans Expositions

Isabelle Hayeur's art is an ecological critique of the effect of urbanization on the environment. Inhabiting concentrates on her analysis of the impact suburbs have had on nature, and is a selection of photographic works from three series: 'Model Homes', a succession of frontal portraits of suburban homes; 'Excavations', ground-level views of suburban groupings and the soil surrounding them; and 'Destinations', large-scale depictions of the coexistence of human habitats and their natural surroundings. Each photographic work by Isabelle Hayeur incorporates several images, using Adobe® Photoshop® software to form an apparently seamless representation. The smoothness with which she integrates views of sometimes widely differing perspectives and scales is such that it takes a moment to realize that what she is offering is an elaborate, artificial construction, not a natural scene. We have to look at these works with a mental lens that has to adapt its focus back and forth, and in the process we come to understand that issues that appear disconnected are, in fact, related to one another. Through her choice of images and themes, Hayeur expresses an anxiety about the way humanity has come to occupy the natural territory. The representation not only of a site but of what has happened to it turns her work into something akin to history painting. A history painting that expresses a moral judgment on the rapid degradation of the natural world while also making an acerbic comment on the "residential" folly that has led to the exponential growth of the suburbs. Serge Bérard, exhibition curator