Suzanne Lafont, Nouvelles espèces de compagnie, exhibition view at French Institute of Japan, Kyoto, 8 October - 30 October 2021
The seven photographic images titled New Companion Species were originally part of a body of work consisting of two parts: New Companion Species. Novel and New Companion Species. Anticipation.
The first section brings together images of wild plants collected in the streets and suburbs of Bordeaux, photographed out of context, and named by the names of the streets where they were picked, thus names of historical figures, scientists, places, artists, historical events, authors, etc. wich characterize the street names, transfer a cultural and romantic density to the natural elements.
The second section consists of a selection from the previous corpus. A dystopian scenario alters the climate. There follows a disorder of perception at the origin of a modification of the color of the objects. The optical phenomenon, linked to glare and recognized under the term retinal persistence, translates daytime vision into a negative and makes sight appear in its complementary chromatic values. Thus the night arises in broad daylight and the violet in the yellow.
The images of plants presented in the garden of the French Institute belong to this latter set. They fantasize in a garden the scenario of climate change as well as they propose a fantastic story.
