The series La chute (“The fall”) by Denis Darzacq shows the evolution of the body in the urban space: In Paris and its surroundings, bodies seem to fall from the sky or from balconies, fallen or suicidal angels. Some seem to be levitations and recall the popular culture of super heroes, video games and science fiction films. Some others create a composition that confronts organic and mineral, the living body and the inert material, and even the idea of abstraction.
A reference to Saut dans le vide (“Leap into the Void”) by Yves Klein must be made; but in this case, no special effects are found, nor digital retouching of images. We observe dancers and sportsmen performing jumps that the photographer has caught in the air, within a frame previously arranged. Time stands still, the instant that escapes in movement is forever captured on film.
In his work, Denis Darzacq shows a different facet of the city and its inhabitants; he’s interested in the relationship between these elements and their intertwining. It is not about showing Paris with its attraction or glamour –on the contrary, the city fades and becomes nothing but an urban quotidian décor- but in the relationship it creates with the bodies that live in it, revealing a new poetic element.
A very particular dynamic can be found in these images. If we ignore what hides their creation, the urban landscape seems deserted, abandoned. No one is walking in the streets or discretely opens the curtains to spy on a passersby. The solitude of the falling bodies is amplified, the city becomes oppressing, the grey in the images invades the viewer. The silence will only be broken by the falling bodies on the ground.
However, from the moment we are familiar with the process of creation of these images, from the moment the trick is revealed, everything acquires a new dimension. The oppressing silence leaves space for the concentration and an almost sensual relationship between the body and the décor. This heavy body that links man to its environment is turned into an instrument of freedom, of creation. He no longer falls, he takes off.
Catherine Tanazacq de Stigliano
[email protected]
Through June 3
Alliance Française de Buenos Aires
Cordoba 946 – Buenos Aires
Argentina
