From my travels, I bring back small things. These are often papers such as exhibition tickets, train tickets, receipts, or torn pieces of cards. I also like to go to the markets and flea markets where I can find unusual objects. Finally, I frequently collect stones and / or shells if I am by the sea and flowers that I dry off in a book if I am in the countryside. There are at my place several boxes loaded with heterogeneous mini treasures. During the holidays, I also take a lot of photos with my film camera. It remains my favourite way of photographing. I like the materiality of the film which pushes to pay attention to each image, and then the delay before the final unveiling.
One year I went to Greece for a month on a Road Trip, it was a very tormented holiday. I was dating at the time this very demanding young man who was stressed by the curious idea that our trip would be less successful than of his older sister who had gone to the same place the previous year. After causing a car accident that cost us the vehicle, we missed several boats, then some stray dogs ate our pairs of sandals bought earlier in Athens. That’s when I realised that my camera was gone. Certainly stolen or forgotten in one of the cars that had picked us up. I collapsed, I had nothing left of our expedition. I was devastated, not so much for the camera but more for the forever lost images left in the case. A film that would have certainly been forgotten. I often think about these ghost images and I promise myself that one day I will go back there and I will take all the lost pictures again.
Have you ever lost something that was precious to you?
Berlin May 4th 2020.