And you, how do you understand this photo? Every day of the week, ESJ Pro students take to the streets to meet Visa pour l’Image festival-goers to ask for their interpretation of a photo. There is no right or wrong answer, only imagination matters. First episode with this photo of Timothy A. Clary on display in the “Pandemics” exhibit.
“A big hand is about to grab us, us little ants. “This vision of things that two passers-by deliver on the fly before rushing into the Convent of Minimes, many visitors to share. Alain, a regular at the festival and a resident of Perpignan, goes even further. “In this picture, I see a higher power, against which we can do nothing. “Before concluding, sarcastically:” Maybe even the hand of god. ”
Silence
For their first visit to Visa pour Image, Céline and Justin, a young couple recently arrived in Perpignan, did not expect to answer this question before even seeing an exhibition. The two lovers take their time, hesitate. Then the young man tries: “This photo is the characterization of the Covid, with the fingers that form a big plier, which grips us. But at the same time, the passerby wearing a mask seems protected. We can even think that the hand remains at a good distance. ”
Between two crises
Marion, who worked for the Visa festival for ten years, sees it as another symbol, full of hope and dreams. “This image is that of a single person between two crises: that of the coronavirus and that of the racial crisis. In this situation, the hand would have a completely different meaning, it would take the passerby elsewhere, in a completely different context. Finally, what amazes Stéphane is how the photographer froze the moment. The perfect moment between the graphic of the purple hand, painted on a wall, and the arrival of the character. “This photo, I see it above all very aesthetic. It is the photographer’s gesture at the instant T, more than the message, that appeals to me. ”
Priscilla Cathalan and Julien Francois
