The Jailed Gardens – It was not long ago in Paris, a time when you could no longer leave your home, it was forbidden, because it was dangerous. What was that era? Another epoch than mine, but it was last month.
One day, while taking a car to cross Paris, this deserted Paris, some time ago, I passed the garden of the Buttes Chaumont, and glimpsed through the gates, a sort of untamed jungle. This fleeting vision fascinated me. Like an impression. What happened during these two months? What became of the Paris gardens?
This is where an old desire returned. I have always wanted to photograph the gardens.
Without being able to enter them, (the authorization procedures were too long, and everything was closed), I decided to photograph them through the railings as best I could, and to use double exposure on my medium format camera. It’s the same, it’s been a long time since I wanted to superimposed, and I had not found the opportunity to use the process. I went in search of the forbidden gardens, prisoners of their railings, and I risked taking pictures that I did not control. double exposure, film, without a photo stand, at random, through the railings, flowers, trees, cries of birds, but no one, no human trace, wild gardens in the heart of Paris.
Wild gardens and prisoners. It was in May 2020. I did it as an impulse, I seized the opportunity.
Carole Bellaïche, May 2020
