Based in Pau, at the foot of the Pyrenees, photographer Xavier Dumoulin uses imagery as a tool for gentle resistance. Set against a backdrop of both the supernatural beauty of the landscape and the ecological crisis, his work invites us to look at a world on the brink of disappearing. In his latest series, Encantats, currently on display at the Artistics online gallery, he explores these themes through the motif of water.
Before becoming a photographer, Xavier Dumoulin worked for many years as a mountain guide. For years, he roamed the Pyrenees, Cabo Verde and Norway, using tales and legends as educational tools to talk about flora, fauna, the stars and water.
When he settled in Paris, he experienced a stark sense of disconnection from nature, which he expressed through his images. His early photographic series thus explored humain’s place in relation to its environment, beginning with architecture specifically the sprawling suburbs surrounding the French capital and later through a return to nature in his native Pyrenees. It was here that the Encantats series was born, with images drawing on the mythological oral tradition that continues to inhabit him as much as a keen awareness of the climate emergency. A convergence centred on a key element: water.
‘In the folklore, of the Pyrenees, its springs, torrents and lakes were historically inhabited by legendary creatures. By exploring the climate emergency, the use of water and its current commodification, I wanted to restore its magical and sacred dimension. Running one’s hand under a waterfall in full awareness is a magnificent act of fluidity and transparency. To illustrate this, I chose to place fairies and nymphs at the heart of the liquid element.”
To achieve this, Xavier Dumoulin returns, by the light of the full moon, to the places he has known since childhood: high-altitude lakes, waterfalls and glaciers. Using a torch, he brings out the otherworldly quality of these mountain landscapes, revealing phosphorescent, opalescent or golden forms. Light thus becomes a presence in its own right, emanating from the water itself.
The choice of artificial light is no mere afterthought in this approach. Since his earliest series, the photographer has used lighting as much as a tool for revelation as a subject in its own right. Where light pollution rendered the stars invisible and suburban areas ghostly, the light of the full moon, combined with that of a lamp and long exposure times, brings forth a very different image of the Pyrenees: less mapped out, less reassuring, and perhaps more accurate.
By blurring the line between the real and the supernatural, Xavier Dumoulin invites us to shift our perspective. Rather than a direct critique, he has chosen to re-enchant in order to make visible what we have ceased to see.
Zoé Isle de Beauchaine
Encantats was exhibited at Le Mix, a contemporary art gallery in Mourenx (64), as part of the exhibition Méandres (14 June – 19 July 2025). It will also be featured in a group exhibition at Le Bel Ordinaire, the contemporary art space of the Pau Béarn Pyrénées urban community, from September 2027 to February 2028.
