Anne de Gelas, "Mère et Fils"

About

In her book "L'amoureuse", which has been published in 2013 at Le Caillou Bleu publishing house, she described the death of her partner, her being shattered and grief.

In order to write it, she held a diary every day, which was "an emergency-chanting discipline" as she says, and she mixed texts, drawings and pictures in an elliptical and tense layout, intending to seize "the vibration of life" and cause "an emotional shock".

"Mère et Fils" is a very similar work and it is part of an after-spouse-and-father-of-her-child's death. This work brings out the peculiarities and the complex changes of that dual relationship: mother and son in a new, overwhelming face-to-face.

Anne de Gelas talks about "three voices": the photography's, which is "prepared, thoughtful, frontal" ; the writing's, which is "nervy and sharp", tinged with anger and disarray, inclusive of even the stories of night-time dreams; and the drawing's, rawer, and according to the artist, close to automatic writing.

This well-developed and universal work is in line with the empiricism of the private diary.

Anne de Gelas is a reknown artist both in Belgium and in France. Her work is part of major collections such as the one of the Musée de la Photographie de Charleroi in Brussels. She has recently been awarded by the SPES Foundation 2015 and an exhibition of her last work will be held in Arles this summer, at the gallery Joseph Antonin. Her new book Mère et fils, will be released on this occasion