Emmanuelle Léonard (2007)

Emmanuelle Léonard has been investigating the relationship between photography and reality since the late 1990s, particularly emphasizing narrative and fictional dimensions of the enquiry. In La sale affaire (2006-2007), she appropriates and recontextualizes police investigative techniques for crime-scenes. These photographs and video images are loaded with an estranged character that reference the illusion of suspended drama.

Presented works:

Emmanuelle Léonard
Born in Montréal, Canada, en 1971
Lives and works in Montréal

In Un ça, un ours et le tonneau des Danaïdes (1998), Emmanuelle Léonard questions the notions of documentary evidence and the truth value of the image by reflecting on the relationship between photography and reality. Dans l’oeil du travailleur (2001), Working Paths (2004), and Les marcheurs (2004) take a closer look at the codes of the documentary genre and address social issues. For this cycle, Léonard asked workers from various milieux if she could photograph them in their workingspaces. In doing so, she questioned the notion of the artist, since her role was limited to choosing the shots that would go into the ensuing exhibition. An examination of the borders between public and private space emerges from this collective portrait with its multiple individual views. Léonard also plays with the codes of various genres as a way of suggesting ideas for stories.We see this in Kill the Drunk Woman (2004), a synthesized self-portrait as a video game heroine; in Fait divers (2004), with its photojournalistic style; and in Guardia, resguárdeme (2005), composed of images in the style of surveillance camera shots. La sale affaire (2006–2007) deepens the narrative dimension of Léonard’s inquiry by imitating crime reconstruction techniques. Léonard’s photo and video images are imbued with a tension that creates the illusion of suspended drama.

OPTICA, UN CENTRE D’ART CONTEMPORAIN
372, STE-CATHERINE W. ESPACE 508
T: 514.874.1666
[SEPT. 07, 2007 – OCT. 13, 2007]

OPENING FRIDAY SEPTEMBER 07, 2007 AT 9 PM | TUESDAY TO SATURDAY, 12 PM TO 5 PM