Sophie Ristelhueber
The French artist Sophie Ristelhueber uses the medium of photography to conduct an exploration of our reality that differs significantly from the intentions of photojournalists or documentary makers. She gained recognition from the 1980s onward with her photo series, including those taken in the war-torn Beirut (1982—1984) and earthquake-affected Armenia (1989). She groups her photos under the common title Details of the World. These images depict traces or scars inflicted by humans on nature or the marks nature has left on human creations. The photos portray destroyed buildings or roads, as well as boundary lines, tracks in nature, electricity or communication poles erected in pristine landscapes, and craters formed by bomb explosions.
For her exhibition project at the Museum Dhondt-Dhaenens, she chose to revisit three images from her series Every One (1994). These are photos of bodies scarred by wounds. This series emerged from a journey she made in 1991 through former Yugoslavia, at a time when war broke out between the Serbs and Croats. Through the detailed exploration of the skin surface via the lens, the bodies become imaginary landscapes redrawn by an injury caused by humans. The scar is the result of healing after the wound, becoming not only a symbol of suffering but also a tribute to resistance against violence.
When displaying her work, Sophie Ristelhueber consistently opts for a physical experience of her images. The scale of the photos is adjusted to the exhibition space, and by affixing the photos to the wall like wallpaper, they lose their object-like character and blend into the space. The vertical images are interrupted by windows that offer a view of the museum’s garden, a piece of nature equally subject to humanity’s urge to demarcate and appropriate. The sound of a zipper echoing reinforces the unsettling and painfully felt atmosphere in the space.
In the video room, Sophie Ristelhueber’s film Fatigues (2009) is also played as an exploration of the physical presence of her images in spaces.
