With two successive images of the same subject in the same location—a magnificent “formal occasion”!—the photographer points to a sort of intimate abyss that a single shot would never be able to span.
Here I am giving three examples, each for a different reason: a slight displacement of one of the components of the image (a pair of glasses), the presence or absence of the photographer, the clothed or naked body of Françoise, and her gradual disappearance behind a second camera which plays the role of a visual decoy.
In each instance, the juxtaposition of two photos stages a contrariness that will bring to center stage either the formal impact alone (the pair of glasses in the foreground to the left, in the Médinet Habou photos), or the disturbing ensemble (in the case of the two images made in the Majorelle gardens in Marrakesh) underscored by the intrusion of stationary obstacles—the stack of jars to the right—and the chaotic use of mise-en-abime, figures necessary to the proper dramatization of any self-portrait of a couple. In a word, hiding the mask: the photographic mask is playing hide-and-seek with the lovers’ hiding place.
I believe in heightening the circumstances. I believe that the photograph is charged with depth and that this depth is due to the encounter between Time and the Beautiful. Shortly before the photo is taken, it is Time that reigns; shortly after, it’s Beauty that takes its place. Aesthetics and temporality flirt with each other in a sort of mental landscape, an almost calm no-man’s land where people might pass, although one can’t be sure, in any case images of people.
I believe that the photographic art consists in identifying, at the right time, the heightening of circumstances which preside over the shooting at the same time as identifying the factors which will set up this memorable encounter between Time and the Beautiful.
Lastly, I believe that recounting the circumstances prior to the photographic act is precisely the only real aesthetic commentary one can add to the image that follows.
In other words, the photograph is what precedes, it is what presides. It should be clear that in the title of this talk, “Conversations with light,” when I say “light,” I am articulating a metaphor for Time.
Denis Roche
Denis Roche (1937–2015) was a French writer, poet, and photographer. These words are an excerpt from Denis Roche, Conversation avec le temps, published by Le Castor Astral in 1985.
Denis Roche, Aller et retour dans la chambre blanche
From November 9, 2016 through January 29, 2017
Maison d’art Bernard Anthonioz
16 Rue Charles VII
94130 Nogent-sur-Marne
France
