Photography exhibition
proposed by Jacques Bihin
As never before in history, common destiny beckons us to seek a new beginning.
The Holy Father Francis, Laudato Si’ 207Presentation
The exhibition presents photographs of landscapes, mainly in the form of spherical panoramas. This technique provides a complete representation of the environment photographed as a "little planet". This approach mainly magnifies two elements: earth and sky. This visual distancing from the earth and the sky invites the spectator to meditate on his relationship to creation and on the climatic issues that result from it. Beyond the playful nature of these photographs, the exhibition is intended to be an awakening "to the grandeur, the urgency and the beauty of the (ecological) challenge before us" (Laudato Si ').
The intention
For centuries, cartography has imposed on us a representation of our planet in an inert form. The exhibition is intended to be a reconstruction of this image of the earth, by enhancing, through lush nature, the predominant place of the living. Other photographs, by enclosing the sky, present the atmosphere to us as an enclosed space, and therefore particularly sensitive to the variation in the proportion of the gases which compose it.
The subject
All the photographs are taken on the small island of Saint-Honorat, off the coast of Cannes, which is an allegory of the earth.
Literary conduct
It is punctuated by 12 quotes taken from the publication Laudato si 'written by Pope Francis in 2015, a reference document for raising awareness of ecological issues, unanimously hailed by stakeholders in sustainable development.
The Catholic Deacon Jacques Bihin is living in Louvain-la-Neuve (Belgium) and graduated from the Saint-Luc Institute for Graphic Arts of Tournai. He specialized in linking the art of painting and spiritualism and has been working as an icon painter and teacher since 1994. He discovered the Saint-Honorat Island during the iconography courses he organized at the Notre-Dame Abbey of Lérins, and decided to do a photographic study about it. In 2010, he started using the recently invented stereography and discovered its graphical and dreamlike potential particularly suitable for this small island flooded with Mediterranean light.
Meeting with Pope Francis
"I therefore invite you to deploy your talents to contribute to an ecological conversion which recognizes the eminent dignity of each person, their own worth, their creativity and their ability to promote the common good."
SPEECH BY POPE FRANCIS TO THE MEMBERS OF THE “DIACONIE DE LA BEAUTÉ” GROUP. Consistory Hall. Saturday February 24, 2018
