When he was twelve, Hervé All experienced dematerialization of his body during an acute appendicitis attack (NDE, near death experience). In 2001, he lived for one year in Mexico, with las Abejas community of Acteal, there he was introduced to mysticism by local people and peyote. Inevitably, these two experiences shaped his perception and feelings of the world.
The young french artist now works on perception and consciousness through new narratives and focuses on the thin line between dream and reality. He, a lucid dreamer, doesn’t feel like a photographer : though he uses the medium of photography, each picture is the result of a performance where he uses a torch. His thin beam of light not only focuses on details but goes beyong the surface, exciting the body’s cells and giving a new glimpse into reality. He uses light not just as a tool or for aesthetical effect, but to explore the fine line between light and dark, flesh and soul, body and space, conscious and inconscious’ perception.
Filled with light, the body (Women Lightscape‘s serie) or the plant (Dancing Leaves’ serie) vibrates and rolls out in a time revised by the artist. Indeed, the exposure time often lasts several minutes to see the magic happens. By fragmentations and transparencies, the subject goes beyong the fugacious moment and leaves long-lasting trace. It’s not the question of any photographic moment, but it’s a way to explore an interval where we can rethink our existence, or our consciouness of being into the world.
Céline Moine
Women Lightscape – Hervé All
84 pages, 1 000 ex.
Texts french & english.
