Direction Arles, in the south of France, where the 53rd international photography meetings are continuing. No less than 40 exhibitions are on the program. In the vein of theatrical performance,…

Cultural meeting

Noémie Goudal: a photographer inspired by ancient climates

Audio 02:35

Visual artist Noémie Goudal, during the Avignon festival.

By: Edmond Sadaka

3 mins

Direction Arles, in the south of France, where the 53rd international photography meetings are continuing.

No less than 40 exhibitions are on the program.

In the vein of theatrical performance, the photographer and visual artist, Noémie Goudal takes up residence there with an exhibition called “Phoenix”.

She realizes there - with the help of photos and videos and an impressive staging - a poetic work on global warming.

The “Phoenix” exhibition by Noémie Goudal is on view until August 28 in Arles at the Trinitarian Church as part of the international photography meetings.

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Noémie Goudal is 38 years old and she is fascinated by the geological history of the planet and by the different climates that have reigned there.

For several years, whether through photography, video or immersive installation, she has been developing a body of work related to the discoveries of paleo-climatologists.

“What fascinates me is trying to understand how scientists manage, by looking at all the geological strata, by looking at pollen, by studying the bottom of lakes, to understand what happened over this long history of the earth.

The Earth is said to be 4.5 billion years old.

And what happened to arrive at the landscapes that we see today.

All my inspirations come from this research,” she explains.

At the Church of the Trinitarians, where the exhibition was installed, on large prints, we can see palm groves while a few meters further on videos scroll past swamps, forests, rocks.

And suddenly, the spectator witnesses the destruction of the images by the flames, their successive engulfment or their metamorphosis, to the sound of collapsing icebergs.

“

I activate the destruction of these decorations gradually with the fire.
It's destruction, but it's also revelation, because a setting, when it burns, reveals the second that appears.
Fire has a double game, between the destroyer and the revealer.
It is also fire that has this double role also in geology: obviously, it destroys, it wreaks havoc, but it also allows us to offer a form of energy, which is obviously very precious to us

", says the artist. .

“Phoenix” exhibition by Noémie Goudal

► To read also: Avignon Festival

: "Anima", the man suspended in the breath of the Earth

Noémie Goudal's installations, whether photographs or videos, have all been constructed in nature.

She then rephotographed them.

"What we see in the exhibition is the result of this construction, which also encompasses all the vagaries of the wind, the sun, the dark night, everything that nature can offer us that we absolutely no control," says Noémie Goudal.

In parallel with this “Phoenix” exhibition, Noémie Goudal proposed another performance in July, but this time within the framework of the Avignon festival and it is the first concrete collaboration between the two festivals.

"We've wanted to forge links between the visual and the performing arts for a long time, and to imagine a project with the Avignon festival", says Aurélie de Lanlay, the deputy director of the photo meetings.

This performance proposed in Avignon is entitled Anima and co-written with Maëlle Poésy.

It recounts the invisible metamorphoses of the landscapes and places with which we live.

Culture meeting - Noémie Goudal: a photographer inspired by ancient climates

Noémie Goudal: a photographer inspired by ancient climates

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