Le Roman Familial (The Family Novel) was born from the void and perhaps “against” my own history, my personal origins, and everything that gave me my innate thought and behavior.
I started to compose it from anonymous photos and old private photos (time having muddled the people’s identities and rendered the situations mysterious). What made me happy was that I felt positive emotions while looking at all these family photographs. The touching simplicity and sincerity of the moments emanated from them.
In the end, it all comes down to what it does in every family, when the curtain falls and protects us from the public eye. Sometimes there was levity, other times gravity. I was moved by the portraits where people were posing with seriousness and authenticity in scenes where life and, particularly, joy were expressed, like during family gatherings.
A new little theater of life was, thus, ready to exist. No matter if everything were fake, because everything had been true in the photographic moment.
Christine Smilovici
Christine Smilovici is a visual artist living in Tournon, France. Her work is globally defined as an exploration of psychological processes, particularly linked to “traumas” or family history.
Christine Smilovici, Le Roman familial (The Family Novel)
From March 11 through April 2, 2017
Les photographiques 2017
Centre des Expositions Paul Courboulay
Rue Paul Courboulay
72100 Le Mans
France
http://www.photographiques.org/
