"If you are content to see the obvious, you will see nothing" (Ruth Bernard). For more than two centuries, landscape has been represented through its artitization, which has completely changed our perception of it, (D)writing a landscape.
In the case of the Gaou, it's easy to imagine that it represented an inhospitable place, battered by wind and waves... This is the battlefield of the four elements. The fire of volcanoes created the rock
that water and wind try to make disappear. When we take a tour of the Gaou, we are left with a global perception, despite the marked disparity between the wide side and the lagoon side. This tension gives the place its identity and strength. Alain Sauvan has walked around the Gaou a few times. A long and regular practice to forget the obvious and represent all its aspects. This has always been his approach. "Photography only makes sense if it exhausts all possible images" (Italo Calvino).
that water and wind try to make disappear. When we take a tour of the Gaou, we are left with a global perception, despite the marked disparity between the wide side and the lagoon side. This tension gives the place its identity and strength. Alain Sauvan has walked around the Gaou a few times. A long and regular practice to forget the obvious and represent all its aspects. This has always been his approach. "Photography only makes sense if it exhausts all possible images" (Italo Calvino).
