Sophie Zénon
in Gesgapegiag
Exhibit
In the Reflection of the Rice Paddies (Maria)
Sophie Zénon, France | sophiezenon.com
For her In the reflection of the rice paddies (Maria) project, Sophie Zénon creates an unreal encounter with the figure of the Italian mondina – whom she revisits through that of her maternal grandmother, Maria. Her family history crisscrosses another – anonymous – one, that of those female seasonal laborers whose work consisted in planting rice seedlings in the region of Piedmont. The harsh working conditions were the source of important social movements, and inspired a number of songs, literary works and films in Italy.
Printed on Baryta paper or on Plexiglas, the portrait of the artist’s grandmother is staged in the confines of a vast rice-growing property dating from the fifteenth century. Her photographs come into being in these places that today are at the cutting edge of technology in terms of rice processing, but where the women’s dormitory has remained intact. The walls, the preserved objects become a stage set for the black and white face. These stagings are associated with a series of found, processed and produced images, by means of which Sophie Zénon builds her own album, her own story. The narratives reveal themselves to be both personal and historical, linked to the history of Italian immigration to France during the period between the wars. They allow images both past and present to encounter one another outside of time so as to visit everyone’s memory and imagination.
EXHIBIT AT RENCONTRES
In the Reflection of the Rice Paddies (Maria)
Sophie Zénon has concentrated for the past ten years or so on the photographic staging of absence, on our relationship with ancestors and with direct line of descent. She’s been the winner of a number of awards, including the Prix Résidence pour la photographie from the Fondation des Treilles (2015) and the Prix Kodak de la critique photographique (1999), and has been nominated for the Prix Niépce (2011, 2015) and the Prix de l’Académie des Beaux-Arts (2010). She’s represented by the Galerie Thessa Herold in Paris, Comptoirs Arlésiens de la Jeune Photographie in Arles, and Schilt Gallery in the Netherlands.