From the serie Naufrages sans spectateur 2019 - 2022

KulturDialog/Cycle n° 3, KulturRaum, Arlesheim, Switzerland (2019) — Digital photographies, inkjet printing on paper and fabric, silk chiffon, mounted or not on plywood — H. 8 to 62 cm x L. 20 to 82 cm.

(…) “the diffuse light of the cloud thickness merges with the waves and spray ; the atmospheric interplay of the elements, one on the other and the other within another, invites drama and lyricism.

In small formats, bright red, natural elements appear, sometimes difficult to read, then another thickness opposes these elements. It is a boat, a barge, more precisely: the skeleton of a barge. Ribs and masts, probably a wreck. It testifies to human work, and probably also to failure, at least to the interweaving and conflict between nature and culture. The superposition becomes story as narrative.

When you look at it, the different thicknesses do not appear to be clearly separated; there is always a movement when one element pushes into the other and becomes one with it in the transition zone. It shows states, processes of superposition of light and delicate sheets. The images are also built in superpositions: Héon places a very fine silk fabric on the film of a photographic image, fixes it on the photo paper and then applies a layer of paint more or less transparent. And, if you look closely at the wall, the image reserves an airspace behind the photo object. We can see how the leaves bend and move slightly, creating a play of bright shadows and reflections of all strata.” (…)               

© Walter Schelble 2019, excerpt from the opening address in German, KulturDialog n° 3, Arlesheim, Switzerland. Translated from the original text in German.