Fisheye Gallery presents Alice Pallot’s exhibition, Algues Maudites, a Sea of Tears.
Through an anticipatory documentary, Alice Pallot questions the impact of human activities on the environment. Imbued with an imagination worthy of science-fiction, her photographs intrigue and reveal invisible issues through her vision of the near future.
The Algues Maudites, a sea of tears project was initiated as part of the 1+2 Residence in collaboration with the Wallonia-Brussels Center and the support of WBI. It was carried out in two phases: in Brittany in collaboration with the Sauvegarde du Trégor Goëlo Penthièvre association then in Toulouse with scientists from CNRS Occitanie-Ouest.
Alice Pallot is interested in green algae which has proliferated for many years in Brittany, in coastal waters as well as in some rivers.
A real environmental and health problem, these algae generate visual, olfactory and also toxic pollution. When they are not collected, they release a gas, hydrogen sulphide (H2S). When highly concentrated, this gas becomes harmful and deadly. The multiplication of these algae is the result of waste from intensive agriculture and a consequence of global warming, it contributes to creating morbid landscapes, without organic life and with a frozen appearance.
Cursed algae, a sea of tears is articulated in narrative chapters mixing testimonies, observations, experiments, scientific documents and poetic imaginations. By evoking the real, although imperceptible, toxicity of algae as well as by capturing a natural phenomenon: the reality of anoxic environments (when the environment is said to be anoxic, it is because the reduction in oxygen is such that there is asphyxiation.), Alice Pallot wishes to confront us with the fragility and unpredictability of the natural world put to the test and the collapse of biodiversity and its ecosystems. Through the film “Green Anoxia”, she also questions spectators about the future conditions of habitability of the earth, showing us organisms resilient to lack of oxygen. The artist questions a current crisis through an art process that pushes the boundaries of the photographic medium, using visual pollution as a photographic filter and creating images without any retouching.
Alice Pallot : Algues Maudites, a Sea of Tears
Until April 27, 2024
Fisheye Gallery
2 Rue de l’Hôpital Saint-Louis
75010 Paris, France
www.fisheyegallery.fr
