He told me that his garden...
Nathalie Joffre
He told me that his garden…
HD video triptych. 9’30’’
An empirical exploration of a photographic archive from Bethlem Royal Hospital,
Europe's oldest institution for mental illnesses.
Archives tend to bring us back to the past through documenting it but they also inhabit
our present. What kind of imprint do they leave on the memory, the body and the intimate
space of the one who touches, smells, listens to them and studies them?
He told me that his garden… is the result of my own subjective exploration of the
archives of Bethlem Royal Hospital and more specifically of a collection of patients’
pictures, taken by portrait photographer Henry Hering between 1857 and 1859. This
collection consists of 106 photographs, amongst which, 49 are titled with the initials,
diagnosis, and in the case of criminals, the crime of each patient. Whilst studying these
archives, I became more and more interested not only in the documents themselves, but
also in the relationship I was building with them; with the place where they are located
and the people on the pictures. My intention has been to consider the archives not as a
fixed accumulation of dead material but as a living and travelling body, that one can
access and appropriate physically and mentally.
He told me that his garden…
HD video triptych. 9’30’’
An empirical exploration of a photographic archive from Bethlem Royal Hospital,
Europe's oldest institution for mental illnesses.
Archives tend to bring us back to the past through documenting it but they also inhabit
our present. What kind of imprint do they leave on the memory, the body and the intimate
space of the one who touches, smells, listens to them and studies them?
He told me that his garden… is the result of my own subjective exploration of the
archives of Bethlem Royal Hospital and more specifically of a collection of patients’
pictures, taken by portrait photographer Henry Hering between 1857 and 1859. This
collection consists of 106 photographs, amongst which, 49 are titled with the initials,
diagnosis, and in the case of criminals, the crime of each patient. Whilst studying these
archives, I became more and more interested not only in the documents themselves, but
also in the relationship I was building with them; with the place where they are located
and the people on the pictures. My intention has been to consider the archives not as a
fixed accumulation of dead material but as a living and travelling body, that one can
access and appropriate physically and mentally.
Comments 1
She holds a BA Art History from La Sorbonne University (Paris) and Master's degrees from ESSEC, Amiens University (MA Fine Art, Video art, Distinction) and London College of Communication (MA Photography, Distinction)
Her work has been shown in exhibitions and festivals in UK, France, Germany, Bulgaria, Roumania, Argentina.
Her videos have been awarded the Sproxton Award for Photography 2012, the Prix ICART 2013 (Paris), and have been longlisted for the Aesthetica Art Prize 2012.
In 2013, she has been selected for a video art residency in agricultural colleges sponsored by the French Ministries of Culture and Agriculture.
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