Leah Desmousseaux
The first image / Un còp èra
Opening Thursday, Octobre 24th from 18.00 pm to 21.00 pm
“Un còp èra” means “Once upon a time” in the Occitan language. This is how Leah Desmousseaux chose to extend the title of her new solo exhibition “The First Image” which presents a body of photographs taken in 2023 and 2024.
This project was built around two emblematic sites of the appearance of life on earth and the birth of humanity: the Plage aux Ptérosaures in Cayssac (paleontological site which presents an old Jurassic limestone quarry rich in fossil footprints) and the Pech Merle cave in Cabrerets (National Prehistoric Center).
Imagined as a sort of giant Camera Obscura, the Pech Merle cave then became the site of direct shots which give rise to silver prints from which primordial landscapes seem to emerge.
From the darkness is born the image which, by its capacity to reverse the visible and to make the immensity blossom in the heart of the minuscule, becomes a dreamlike hypothesis of a landscape before man.
Equipped with her camera, Leah Desmousseaux also tracked down the slightest traces left by the small dinosaurs on the paleontological site of Cayssac. A hunter of images, she then reveals shapes and shadows that tell a new story. Here a Madonna, there a navel, here again the roundness of a breast, a belly, or a little man…
The velvety texture of the Lith prints exacerbates the sensuality of her photographs thanks to the warmth of the hues and the different grains obtained. This particular chemistry allows in fact to develop almost unique photographs, with “pepper” effects (dots scattered on the image) or weft that cannot be reproduced identically.
All the photographs in this exhibition were taken by the artist herself in her photo lab in Escamps, except for a single large-format art print: Cèl.
