To the sky, to the wind, to the earth, Fabienne Berthaud

At the Halle au Sucre from October 19 to December 22, 2019
At Ground Control from February 5 to 23, 2020

Exhibition curated by Lauranne Germond – COAL

Au ciel, au vent, à la terre is the work of Fabienne Berthaud, novelist and director. She exhibits at Ground Control some thirty photographs taken during the two years preceding the shooting of her film Un monde plus grand freely adapted from Corine Sombrun’s story, Mon initiation chez les chamanes. Following in the footsteps of her heroine, she travelled across the most remote steppes of Mongolia, where the winds shape the landscape and customs.

“Photography accompanies each of my cinematographic works. It is intrinsically linked to the creative process, my approach is nourished by this documentary material. Thus I find my frames, the point of view, the authenticity, the accuracy and the emotion of my work. My photos have no light artifice, no staging but are never taken at random. I have this need to be in tune with my subject, to establish a connection, something vibrant and organic at the moment of the shot. Photography is an inspiration.

The adventure of this film allowed me to meet Tsaatan families, to share their daily life, to discover ancestral traditions, to meet shamans at the rhythm of the reindeer transhumance. I met faces, shared the existence of nomadic people in osmosis with nature, living in respect of animals, plants and minerals. I met deeply happy people, yet extremely poor. No doubt there is a secret in nature with which they have an appointment.

In our time when the world is going astray, “it seems urgent,” she tells us, “to come together to share the ancestral values that are falling into the oblivion of our humanity.”