Photo : © Francesca Bertolini

Mémoires des présences

There is no hint of humanity on the walls of the immense firm photographed by Francesca Bertolini. Not a trace: only objects, papers, clothes hanger – the firm is renowned in the industry of fashion – old posters with old-fashion hairdos, dusty telephones, tables.
Bertolini worked in these spaces for several years. She looked upon the place with the melancholy that catches you every time you’re in an abandoned spot you’ve lived in for a long time.
Her work does not mean to generate tears or easy emotions.
It’s more about the images of memory. There, time has stopped its course. The workers have gone on Friday with minimum effects. And on Monday, they were already working in the headquarters of the firm.
A year after this abandon, Francesca Bertolini came in the firm to photograph these absences, turned into presences in her pictures. These photos are sensations, subtle feelings.
The light is always very natural: an artificial light would have revealed an unintended mise-en-scene.
This is why she chose black and white, contrasting with usual fashion pictures, almost always in colour.
There are only inside pictures, never turned towards what is outside the window, towards life that goes on, towards the world.
At zero hour, the spaces are empty. At that precise moment, a new life has started for the firm.
In her photos, made with care, emerges an attempt to fix the minute of the end. It is a silent waiting, immobile, revealing the poetry of things, apparently meaningless, but only apparently.


Angela Madesani



Exhibition from 15th May to 29th June "Lieux de mémoire"

Preview: Wednesday 28th May at 7pm
Exhibited at Maison de la Photographie - Lille
Phone. 03 20 05 29 29 - www.maisonphoto.com

Open Wed to Fri from 2pm to 7pm. Open Saturday and Sunday from 11am to 7pm

Exhibition realised in partnership with Institut Culturel Italien of Lille