Breaking Point

Florine Thiebaud presents her recent portfolio Breaking Point, on the subject of exile, at the Contretype gallery.

Ton the Greek islands, the photographer met people awaiting their papers, with whom she remained in contact and visited several times in 2018 and 2019.

The young photographer could thus follow the steps in the administrative process handling their asylum claims.Do we really know the extent to which the processing of an asylum application can mark time and bodies?Florine Thiebaud makes this interminable pause in the movement of life palpable. Hope survives with great difficulty amid monotony and waiting to see what happens. 

Time stands still, boredom grows and the same days repeat themselves, over and over again, until, in theory, a final decision is made. The lack of progress has its effect on the applicants’ bodies and incomprehension mixes with anguish in every soul. From expressions of weariness to signs of tension, the tightly framed portraits attempt to individualise those who are usually lumped together in figures and statistics.

The photographer does not seek to make sense of what is senseless, but rather to bear witness to a state of suspense, to time that has stopped, to a delay that seems to be endlessly extended, caught up in the inevitable and intransigent passage of time. 

Anne-Françoise Lesuisse
BIP/Biennale de l'Image Possible

Website: www.florinethiebaud.com

© Florine Thiebaud, Breaking Point, 2017-2019, 48,3 x 32,9 cm

Florine Thiebaud portfolio received a Jury Commendation at the “Propositions d’artistes”
competition in 2019.