If there is no established definition, the notion of wild habitats, chosen by the artist to qualify the living places of the people she met, allows both to embrace the complexity of her approach and the heterogeneity of the situations observed.
As opposed to the notion of home, which refers to the idea of a conventional house, that of savage testifies to a desire to be part of an unconventional way of living, on the margins or on the edge of society. The wild is what we do not know, what has not been domesticated. The untamed is frightening because he deviates from societal standards.
For ecologists, wild habitats refer to the natural environments in which animals evolve. In natural, agricultural or forest spaces, these inhabitants of mobile homes, caravans, cabins, yurts, and other removable constructions, which the artist presents to us, spend most of their time outdoors and have in common with animals. wild, outdoor life, closer to nature and the seasons. With their modest sizes, their self-constructive processes, and the sobriety that characterizes them, their habitats are reminiscent of the nests or burrows of forest animals.
Through her portraits of people who live in wild habitats, Léna Durr relies on ethnographic and documentary work to deploy an intimate and benevolent story, in which she shows paths and ways of life that escape the rules. established, out of step and in resistance to imposed norms, unstable territories where the notions of wealth, happiness and free time are called into question.
Alexandre Telliez-Moreni 2021
Léna Durr : Habitats Sauvages
July 1 – October 30, 2022
Centre d’Art Contemporain de Châteauvert
460 Réparade, 83670 Chateauvert, France
https://museesetcentresdart.caprovenceverte.fr/centre-dart-contemporain-de-chateauvert/
