Footsteps heavy, back bent, arms dangling, a figure moves through indecipherable darkness. Each of his strides multiplies, as if he is getting ahead of himself while at the same time lagging behind. It seems as if he has been plucked from the real world and thrown into a strange theatre where other characters are plagued by their own vertigo—with no apparent control over the gestures they make or the movements that carry them along, the various figures appear resigned to the potentially tragic outcome of the event. In this interval separating the being from his fall, he proves to be subject as much to the weight of his body as to that of his soul.
To craft this phantasmagoric universe evoking the wilds of the human psyche, Jean-Jacques Ringuette uses photography as a tool for constructing the real in its most intangible manifestations. By giving form to the experience of looking inside the self and confronting one’s fears and troubles, his photographs distance themselves from the visible order to better address the gravity of our existences. The squares of silver leaf meticulously applied to the images recall the human hand that is essential to the creation of the work, invoking once again the centrality of the body in the search for and construction of meaning.
This exhibition is part of our and everything it takes programming, which looks into the forces and resources that drive us and what, within and outside of ourselves, might equally prove to be a potentiality or a menace.
Image : Éclipse, De la série Sombre – Méditation sur les abîmes, 2022 Tirage numérique sur support de qualité archive avec encres pigmentées; feuille d'argent métallique. 127,41 X 83,82 cm (50 ¼ po. X 33 po.)
