"Non-Essentials"
During the pandemic that affected the world, the French government decided to classify some categories of people as NON-ESSENTIAL. It is to these «non-essential»
that this work is dedicated. Starting with the desire to collect testimonies from all trades, it turned out that many artists contacted me to bring their vision on the subject. That’s when I
discovered people with incredible resilience. Indeed, after a dozen meetings, I realized that this project took an unexpected turn, it became a tribute to the resilience of artists and authors.
Their ability to adapt already indispensable to their profession proved to be another strength during this crisis and this national exclusion. Artist, a profession adored for the aura that
surrounds him and yet so often despised by the state. I asked these volunteers to give me a word, a feeling about the name «non-essential» and what it had triggered in them. From there, I looked
for classical pictorial references in connection with their choice of word to pay tribute to museums, also relayed as non-essential. (Although their visit is prescribed by doctors in some
countries to fight, in other, against depression, a scourge that has settled all the more during the last two years and especially among young people) And I made the photo sessions in a neutral
setting so that the object chosen in connection with their profession and pose it in reference to the history of art are in the center of attention. (Because it is thanks to history that we are
supposed to remember the lessons of the past).
The second part of the project is to interview these “non-essential”. The paradoxes then emerged. When many people turned to art and well-being during this period,
artists could not practice their profession. Thus, while she never had so much demand for yoga classes, Emmanuelle, dancer and yoga teacher
could not then give her classes. Some took advantage of this period as a rest in the race for contract. Others could try new practices always relayed to later or refine their art and costumes.
Projecting them into pieces of art, this work honors the incredible resilience of the invisible whose light no one can turn off.
Even if this project began after the pandemic, it's a battle that need to be still continue today as when can see in the French news. The status of intermittent is threatened and push always farther the level of insecurity and precariousness of artists.
The right to dream and breath is fundamental for each of us.
Artists are this fresh wind and light who can bring joy even in darkness.
Being Stuck
Yui - Circassian
Sacrificed
“We are being sacrificed because culture is the first area we hit. We feel useless: those we can sacrifice. We understood the idea, but we shouldn’t say it like that. It’s insulting. We can’t do without us. There will always be someone who makes art.
I understood the expression “selling a dream” when I was doing this work. I like to be shy in front of people and make them dream. Show must go on.”
Toomch - Street Artist
The doubt
“Artists are the doctors of the soul.”
Philippe Saïd - Comedian "retired"
Deconstruction
“I couldn’t dance anymore, it forced me to deconstruct my preconceived ideas about myself to start training.
It’s mental and financial security.
I used to think I’d do this later.
Dance is the language that makes the most sense to me.
I went from 35 hours a week of dancing to nothing.
It’s also a sport, a physical activity, it releases endorphins,
So the hard stop was hard, and led to depression.”
Alice Miljanovic. Student in dance and movement notation.
Creative joy
“It was a terrible ban on working. We are passionate, that is what makes us live.
And there, everything that shines stays in covers. It’s vexing and demeaning.
People tell us that they are delighted. We want to come out and make people dream.
During this period, I worked with costume designers, film crews
and I redone my website. But I was completely fed up. Optimism has its limits...”
Gary Shoow - Transformiste
Abandonned
“When I heard that word, I laughed softly. I laughed yellow. It’s a complicated business and the state doesn’t care. It’s like we’re not doing a real job. It doesn’t matter. It’s a reason to live. It’s going to be really difficult. I finished theatre classes at Cours Florent in September 2020. For the future, it’s hard, I feel abandoned, lost, left behind, but I don’t want to give up. I don’t see myself doing anything else. It’s my whole life. It’s an engine. Without art, what’s the point of living?
Ambre Fouvez, photo model and actress.
Slackening
Carlota, Dancer and stand-up. Mexico
“All this has made what I do even more essential to me. Art can save the world. The flow of negative information can be countered by a flow of positive information. The dance studio where I worked in Mexico City closed. My first reaction was my ego that led him into rebellion. Then art is essential even without the places to practice it. So I chose to create. I always run after projects, artistically, "capitalistically", and then everything stops. So we wonder why we make art. It allowed me to release the non-essential part and awaken the essential part in me.
It was an opportunity to take a break that I never take. It accelerated the separation with my husband and I returned to France. It even disciplined me. Confined, we have a routine. At the second lockdown, I no longer believed in humor, I was no longer in freedom and light. I wanted something that makes sense, something more revolutionary
Taking back a daily life has given me a potential for a joke; I love dance and humor. I take it as: fate told me Stop, refocus you. It was an opportunity to start over. The universe is putting things back in their place.”
Fatality
Adrien Laterre - Screenwriter
“I was not surprised to be called non-essential. It was essential for me, but not for others. Even in cinema, we feel that the screenwriter is not essential, while the whole story comes from him. We are already treated as non-essential in our profession. We do not have intermittent. We are not on the movie poster. Yet we are at the origin of everything. I am skeptical of institutions, especially of promises. I spare myself the hope of believing in them. For me, 2020 was double punishment. It’s a very good year, I just got out of 10 years of hiding in France, without paper. I lived pretty well, I did what I did. And then for the first time, I could travel. Well, I could do what I wanted. But no.”