“Caress the sky”, an exhibition produced by 450 young people to come back to life
In October last year, on the eve of the second confinement and after the shock of the assassination of Samuel Paty, the photo and dance workshop of Saint-Cyprien in Toulouse offered the young people of the city to express their vision. of freedom. The result is a very beautiful exhibition: “Caressing the sky”.
On the edge of the second confinement, shortly after the assassination of Samuel Paty, the managers of the photography and dance workshop in the Saint-Cyprien district in Toulouse wanted to see ties strengthen and restore hope to young people. The exhibition “Caressing the sky” was born from this intention, from this attention …
450 young people from the city participated in its realization. Kindergarten and high school children danced, jumped to the sky and took pictures in some of the most iconic places. Click here to see the report produced by France 3 Occitanie.
Everyone was able to express their vision of freedom. The photos have undergone cyanotype development, a very singular monochrome photographic process, which opens up a dreamlike field in accordance with the sky and the wonders that it gives us to see at every moment.
Sharing and touching the inhabitants, the visitors, throughout the city, that was the challenge. The exhibition is visible on the banners of the Pont Neuf, on the quays of the Garonne, near school groups such as the Lakanal school or the Saint-Sernin high school, the Saint-Cyprien and Henri-Desbals cultural centers and on 70 signs of the city usually dedicated to advertising.
In reference to this difficult period of last year, Ingrid Coumes-Marquet, coordinator of the photography workshop of Saint-Cyprien in Toulouse, resets the spirit of the project. “What we could still do was reach out to children and young people, so we wanted to set up a project that would allow this artistic practice to continue, which also allow forging links, which is a bearer of hope, which also talks about freedom“.
“I like it because these photos make you imagine things that you can’t do “, Aodhen reacts from the photo studio. “Many children have done this and that warms my heart, it’s wonderful! “. “VSpleases me, it feels good to my heart!“add Shamuel and Abderrahmane.”VSmade me want to take pictures too! ” Keylan says.
“As soon as we speak of an image, there is a distance, there is the other and as soon as there is the other, we can really approach vocabulary such as the point of view, the distance …“ explains Omar Boukandil, animator and trainer at the photographic workshop. There is all this relationship to the other that meets in place. It is important !”
During the opening on Thursday, October 21, a choreographic performance in weightlessness, by the company 9.81 took place on the facade of the Water Tower in the Saint-Cyprien district.
The cyanotypes exhibition is also presented in November, at the Henri-Desbals Cultural Center, as part of the Breathe! which offers more than 100 events until the end of December.