Femmes de la Louisiane is a photobook made by Emilie Molinero. It follows on from a one-year photographic project.
Portraits of ten women, aged from 22 to 83, who live at the Hotel La Louisiane, a place located in the heart of Saint-Germain-des-Prés in Paris we can somehow compare to the Chelsea Hotel in New-York .
Since the 1920s, the hotel has been renowned for its love for arts, literature, and freedom of expression. Some famous guests have forged its legend : among them, Jean-Paul Sartre, Simone de Beauvoir, Juliette Greco or Quentin Tarantino.
Today, some women in search of themselves or of a new life come to this place to seek a “room of their own”, as was so dear to Virginia Woolf. Along the corridors and floors, doors open : Tina, Emilie, Nathanaëlle, Mariam, Charlotte, Anna, Catherine, Shana, Madison and Julie-Amour… Ten stories of women, ten stories of personal spaces.
The hotel has played the role of mother and muse for them. Coming to hide, rebuild, escape for a few days or invent a new life, these women have drawn the strength to pursue their goals thanks to this poetic and surreal place. Its narrow and winding yellow corridors are like labyrinths or tentacles that lead to rooms, which are like small protected cells which each guest can mould according to their desires. The eroded walls of the rooms with uneven sides, the flowered curtains, the green, blue or red English carpets, and also the artists’ drawings on the walls contribute to the creation of a dreamlike space.
With a personal and poetic approach, Emilie Molinero considered the bedroom as a sanctuary, and therefore she didn’t rearrange it nor did she introduce anything artificial in the setting.
She left everyone the freedom to dress as they wished. She portrayed their intimacy best by photographing with no lighting other than daylight or bedroom lighting. Each series was preceded by a long meeting during which each one opened the door of their more intimate story.
Emilie Molinero : Femmes de la Louisiane
Bilingual edition. Edited in April 2022.
225 copies.
Printed in France by Art et Caractère. 132 pages.
Femmes de la Louisiane is now on sale at Leicastore Rive Gauche (13 rue du Cherche-Midi, 75006 PARIS) and online on the website www.emiliemolinero.com in the « Books « section. Bilingual edition. Worldwide shipping.
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