Domestic photos
In every private place, however modest, it is rare that the photographic image does not occupy a special place. Framed or not, in the center of studied scenographies which sometimes make one think of kinds of domestic altars, or simply placed on a library shelving, or fixed by a magnet on the fridge door, these images have been exfiltrated from albums of family, unclassifiable collections of printed photos or the continuous flow of digital photos that clutter our memories: images saved in a way, and consecrated as in the past in Roman houses were the gods and protectors of the home. By exhibiting these photos of unknown ancestors, these images of our loved ones, or these keys to our imaginary museum that appear in such an artist’s photo or such an old postcard, we build and cultivate an image of ourselves resulting from our memory according to a gesture well before the photograph itself. With photography, however, the representation of the world has democratized, the selfie has become universal, and now we can live surrounded by images, oh so chosen, thereby transforming our chaotic and contingent lives into destiny.
Bernard Chevalier
