I’ve always loved seeing things at a higher point, from above. The viewpoint up high flattens the perspectives and conveys the impression of a world in miniature. The elaborate graphic composition is also what I’m looking for in my photographs.
In fall and spring, the light is soft, the tourists are not there yet – or already gone, the beach resorts have been dismantled, leaving bare sections of concrete destroyed on the beaches. In the afternoon, a few regulars get settled and enjoy the warmth of the autumn or spring sun. “The Promenade des Anglais” is overlooking the beach and provides at some places an interesting viewpoint for those scenes.
The pictures are made in a similar way: one or many characters, seen from above, attend to their businesses on those concrete beaches. In the framing, they are isolated against a concrete background. The light is overwhelming and omnipresent.
The characters in bathing suits stand out on those backgrounds that evolve with the light from gray to ocher. Or perhaps are they lost in this background? The contrast is dual: the bright saturated colors of the characters oppose the color of concrete. In a similar pattern, this rough hard gray-ocher background opposes the fragility of the characters’ almost naked bodies.
The reading of the picture is not immediate, it is ambiguous. The person watching it can get lost before understanding what he’s looking at: are we in front of a wall? Are the characters the continuity of the background? Do they invade the background or are they overwhelmed by it?
Fanny Genoux
