22 Initiatory Mirrors, a quest for self through tarot, is the title of Léa Barrier‘s exhibition at Galerie La Lison. She presents herself as follows:
From the very beginning, photography has been a way to talk about myself through the other. I first explored this game of the double with my friends. Through the mirror of the other, I questioned identity, the body, and the sacredness of being.
In 2018, this dialogue with otherness reached a form of fulfillment, and I then felt the need to face the camera alone. I began to portray myself in allegories, including that of the witch.
This emblematic figure, whom I would define as the heir to ancestral knowledge linked to the elements, resonates deeply with the archetypes of the medicine woman, magician or shaman. She embodies, in my eyes, a primordial memory: that of an intimate link between humans and invisible forces; that of a forgotten language between worlds. A marginalized yet powerful figure, the witch is a bridge between visible and invisible realities, a universal archetype that summons the collective unconscious. She represents a form of resistance, intuitive wisdom and connection to the origin.
Between symbolic power, intuition and reappropriation of my history, the tarot has imposed itself as a natural continuation of my exploration; during this period I edited my tarot: The Celestial Eye. In 2020 I continued this approach by joining the Georges Colleuil School to study the Birth Reference system.
Tarot, with its arcana steeped in mysteries, initiatory tales, and symbols, appeared to me as a visual and spiritual language resonating with my inner quest. Each card becomes a threshold, an open door to a facet of the soul, an archetypal mirror capable of revealing profound truths. As a sacred system, it extends this link between image, intuition, and transformation, initiated with the symbolism of the witch I had depicted in photography.
It was from this awakening that I chose to fully embrace my identity and to break it into 22 initiatory mirrors.
For three years, I conducted a process of introspection based on the 22 major mysteries of the tarot. Each mystery became a role, a mask, an inner truth to be revealed: I became, in turn, a man, a woman, or a concept, depending on the message conveyed by the mystery I worked on in photography and in my daily experience.
This guiding principle allowed me to create a work that was both aesthetic and symbolic, while continuing an exploration of the self. Photography thus became a ritual of self-knowledge, an initiatory journey through images.
Léa Barrier, visual artist, tattoo artist, and practitioner of the Birth reference System
Léa Barrier : 22 Miroirs Initiatiques
Until July 5, 2025
Galerie La Lison
5 rue Pierre Chausson
75010 Paris
www.galerie-la-lison.com
