Marie-Pierre Cravedi – La Reunion

“‘La Réunion’ is a photographic essay on family. The main interest in this work was to tackle the place of individual within the family group. How can each one keep his own identity? How can the relationships work in a group? In an environment as complex as family, how can the camera find its place without changing the attitude of the protagonists?

It brings questions on our own place as a photographer as well as a member of the family. Without looking to criticize or flatter my family circle, I show them as they are, at least how I see them. The fact that I sometimes appear in the pictures places me in the environment and gives an idea to the viewer of my place in the family. In addition to a reflexion on the family group, memory – in a global sense including oral transmission, memory of places, objects and souvenirs, – is another strong component of this work.

My first approach was concentrated around a place: the family house. Having changed little since my childhood, it is a landmark in a world where everything changes quickly. Starting with this place, my reflexion evolved towards people, beginning with my sister and me, as this place saw us grow up and evolve. But these memories live today thanks to the witness that was following us these years and recorded the moments: my mother. It’s finally a three-person relationship that I’m talking about: the photographer and her models.

It’s at that moment when the objects appeared in my line of sight. In my family, we’ve kept everything. For generations. We are only a link in the chain, we pass the objects from one generation to another. But we add also our grain to the building and future generations will decide. In such a context, memory transmission and the importance of objects are at the heart of my reflexion.
The connection between reality and fiction is completely present in the memory construction. According to Paul Antze’s works, memory wouldn’t only be a reconstruction, but an imaginary construction. In my work, this idea is obvious as I suggest here my own interpretation of family.”

Marie-Pierre Cravedi / ECAL 2013

All the chapters of the story on www.mariepierrecravedi.com. Marie-Pierre Cravedi was born and raised in Toulouse and currently lives between Lausanne and Toulouse. She received a Bachelor in cinema from La Sorbonne, a Master in Photography from EFTI School, Spain, and a Master in Art Direction, option Photography, from ECAL in 2013. After being the assistant of Alberto Garcia-Alix in 2009, she worked as a freelance photographer. She has exhibited in Toulouse, Madrid, Tarazona and Niamey.