As part of a program initiated by the Ministry of Culture, photographer Élisa Haberer took advantage of an Art & Mondes du travail residency to develop her documentary practice, which is usually focused on people. Her approach focuses on taking an intimate look on subjects related to identity and memory.
“My work has so far led me to question the constitution of identity and memory through photography My recent work has focused on the question of territory as a shared space, always keeping people at the center of my work,” said the photographer.
Sponsored by the company PLD Propreté & Services, the program facilitates the intersection between the business world and artistic intervention.
Élisa Haberer met with approximately one hundred maintenance and cleaning workers in the schools, universities, banking, hospitality, and even childcare sectors. The theme of “off-screen,” usually used for a visual shift alongside the action—can be used here for time lag. These spaces where employees work are now occupied after their working hours by the cleaning staff and the artist.
The result depicts settings and activities invisible to the daytime occupants: offices, lecture halls, restrooms, floors, and carpets; structures and furniture, cleaned, vacuumed, and dusted.
Particularly suited to all types of contemporary presentations, the Maison Salvan—created in 2006 by the city of Labège and overseen by Paul de Sorbier—provides photographs with an exhibition space that encourages installation. An accumulation of images for an accumulation of workplaces, a mosaic of distant horizons in shimmering and blurred (inaccessible?) colors, the gift of ubiquity of agents at work; superimpositions of images for superimpositions of gestures, and a compilation of resumes as wallpaper.
Jean-Jacques Ader
“18H, Anatomie de situations invisibles ” exhibition by Élisa Haberer at the Maison Salvan in Labège (31) in partnership with the company PLD Propreté & Services, from May 21 to July 5, 2025. Information: https://maison-salvan.fr/
