Encapsulating ten years of photography, Acedia, Louise Desnos’ first book, is a poetic tribute to idleness. Available from Witty Books.
No, your sadness and melancholy – if it is only what I think it is – is more likely a sign of strength. The inquiries of a lively, stimulated mind sometimes bursting beyond everyday limits, and, naturally, finding no response, there is a sadness, a temporary dissatisfaction with life. This is the sadness of a soul wondering about life’s mysteries.”
These words from Oblomov, the famous novel by Russian author Ivan Goncharov, could serve as a literary counterpart to Louise Desnos’ photographs. The discovery of this book was a revelation for the French photographer, who was already drawn to these moments of languor, this inclination toward indolence to which she herself sometimes surrendered—without ever truly defining it.
The state of mind Louise Desnos seeks to capture goes beyond mere laziness. If the body is apathetic, the mind cannot be stopped from running. What is at stake here is a restless, somewhat melancholic idleness—what was once called “acedia.” This sensation can be seen through the weight she gives her images: the bodies appear heavy, burdened, as if mired in invisible cotton. They interact with photographs that convey a certain strangeness—fleeting details caught in passing, punctuating the book as if disrupting the flow of thought.
When one thinks of Oblomov, one imagines a young man lying on his divan, drowsing in the afternoon torpor, in a silence only broken by the hypnotic ticking of a clock. Half-opening an eye, Oblomov would fix his gaze on the ceiling for a moment before deciding to leaf through a book—perhaps hesitating to get up, only to ultimately surrender entirely to his idleness: so what?
For Louise Desnos, this « so what? » is the very essence of what is at play here. Goncharov invites us to reconsider our perception of laziness: “Is it a radical renunciation leading to self-abandonment and melancholy? Or the ultimate wisdom, the ultimate lucidity found in stillness and surrender? The question remains open, and that is precisely what fascinated me about this subject.”
While she describes laziness as a “state of grace,” the photographer sees acedia as a “troubled refusal.” It serves as a remedy for the guilt often associated with laziness—a concept historically defined in opposition to work. It becomes an act of resistance against the injunctions of a world that seems to be accelerating relentlessly. Laziness acedia is an affirmation of our freedom.
With its dreamlike scenes and a taste for sometimes absurd details, Acedia ultimately reveals how idleness can be a powerful drive for creativity. Or perhaps that creativity is a cure for idleness? That is for the reader to decide.
Zoé Isle de Beauchaine
Louise Desnos – Acedia
Published by Witty Books, 2024
23 x29 cm, 112 pages
ISBN 979-12-80177-44-5
Available in good bookshops and online
