Portrait of Sailors’ Feet, trunk display
“ While working on the Portrait of Wind project aboard the Jeanne d’Arc, I made a series of portraits of the bare feet and faces of the sailors.
The work, Portrait of Sailors’ Feet contains the soul of Jeanne d’Arc, which has now been dismantled. It is also a trunk coated with zinc and placed lengthwise, consisting of eight drawers, a panoramic screen and two speakers. On the left side is the registration number of the vessel: R97.”
Portrait des pieds marins, 2012
Jean Larivière with his Nagra recorder aboard the Jeanne d’Arc, 2010
The work contains 336 photographs arranged in six drawers, half of which are images of sailors’ feet and the other half, the same sailors’ faces. There is nothing to help make a direct connection between the different feet and faces.
These photos were taken using film, just like the prints, which are pasted on sandblasted glass plates, giving them a certain nobility. Another small drawer contains a leaflet as well
as a signed Cape Horn platinum print.
If desired, a sound system also allows one to hear the different noises evoking life on board the last voyage of this legendary boat.
Finally, in the lid of the trunk there is a
panoramic screen, on which two films appear consecutively. One shows the flames
of war floating in the skies of Brest on the last day of the campaign ; the feet
of the Jeanne d’Arc sailors marching for the last time in the parade of 14 July
2010 : the midshipmen raising the anchor through the capstans and the farewell
of the cadets.
The second film shows the swell
of the sea under different light during the journey. These sequences let the spectators feel the unstable movements of the sea, putting their sailors’ feet to the test.
The second film shows the swell
of the sea under different light during the journey. These sequences let the spectators feel the unstable movements of the sea, putting their sailors’ feet to the test.
Cover of the leaflet, pen and ink drawing of the Commander's foot, 2010
Micro Jeanne, toy, reproduction of the Jeanne d’Arc boat, 2010
Portrait of Sailors’ Feet, teaser, 2010
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