This photo series was created with a friend named Luana. I had been grappling with depression and had stopped taking pictures for a while.
During my birthday weekend, I decided to break free from my self-imposed isolation and joined friends in the mountains. We explored the natural surroundings, far from the stresses of Paris. I brought my camera, not expecting much. Surprisingly, I rediscovered the joy of capturing moments, big and small.
A quote from a biography about the painter Gérard Garouste struck a chord with me: 'I kept thinking constantly, as if I needed to justify myself, to find my place, it exhausted me, the desire to paint would abandon me and then return, even more burning. Where was the artistic courage now? Did I need to tear, burn the canvases? Some tried. But the avant-garde is a battle, not an overbid. Painting needs risk.'
In the biography of this admired painter, I found echoes of my own artistic exhaustion and lack of inspiration. How could I reignite that initial spark? Creation necessitates risk-taking. It's a path I'm eager to re-embrace, even if it means stepping back.
