The Waiting

"The Waiting" is a photographic and audio essay which follows the pursuit of female hunters and their intimate relationship to the land, to their harvest and to each other. Shot between Southern France, Louisiana and Mississippi, the women take us on a meditative journey from stillness to the irreversible act of killing. Like the goddess of the hunt, they embody the tension between the protector and the destroyer. From sunrise to sunset, they disappear in bayous, rice fields and duck blinds for hours on end in the quest of their prey.

While hunting does not require a masculine body, huntresses are largely invisible in historical and contemporary depictions. Often, the responsibility and credit for survival has been bestowed upon men, with women relegated to passive roles as gatherers. But in Roman mythology, Diana, goddess of the hunt, fertility and the moon, transcended the gendered distinction society has since created. "The Waiting" explores the mystical trails between ancient myths and the 21st century, the relationship between killing and nurturing through the hunting sisterhood that rejects traditional roles and embodies the predator in a society that often views them as prey.

© Camille Farrah Lenain - Image from the The Waiting photography project
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Jennifer, 17, a young huntress from Bunkie, Louisiana, hold a rifle in front of the bayou by her house, where she goes hunt by herself. November 2019.

© Camille Farrah Lenain - Blood drooling from a hog hunted earlier in the day in Haute-Garonne, France, by a group of women hunting. August 2020.
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Blood drooling from a hog hunted earlier in the day in Haute-Garonne, France, by a group of women hunting. August 2020.

© Camille Farrah Lenain - Image from the The Waiting photography project
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Rachel, a huntress originally from Alsace, is hiding in the marsh in Carmague for the evening hunt, pointing her rifle towards ducks and snipes. August 2020.

© Camille Farrah Lenain - Image from the The Waiting photography project
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An female hunting club from Haute-Garonne, Southern France, gets ready for their morning hog hunt, in August 2020. Organized as a group, they strategically spread over the mountain to raise the chance of harvesting the animal.

© Camille Farrah Lenain - Image from the The Waiting photography project
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View of a mountain landscape in Haute Garonne, Southern France, where hunters and huntress gather after a day of hunting. August 2020.

© Camille Farrah Lenain - Image from the The Waiting photography project
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Aurelie, a huntress from Haute-Garonne, Southern France, after she finished skinning a hog harvested earlier that day. August 2020.

© Camille Farrah Lenain - A forest fire in Mississippi, March 2021.
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A forest fire in Mississippi, March 2021.

© Camille Farrah Lenain - Image from the The Waiting photography project
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Jennifer’s hair, a young huntress in Bunkie, Louisiana. Jennifer primarily hunts by herself in the bayou around her house, and feels connected to hunting through her Aztec ethnicity. October 2019.

© Camille Farrah Lenain - A dead’s hog fur after it was skinned in Arles, Southern France. August 2020.
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A dead’s hog fur after it was skinned in Arles, Southern France. August 2020.

© Camille Farrah Lenain - Image from the The Waiting photography project
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Sharie, 65, a huntress from Louisiana, goes hunting with her husband every weekend in the Northern part of the state. She hunts to share this culture with her children and grandchildren and bring food to the table all year. January 2021.

© Camille Farrah Lenain - A flock of lackbirds flying in the sky in Venice, Louisiana. March 2021.
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A flock of lackbirds flying in the sky in Venice, Louisiana. March 2021.

© Camille Farrah Lenain - Image from the The Waiting photography project
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Beth, 27, a huntress from Louisiana, is hiding in the blind where hunters hide to hunt for ducks in the rice field. November 2019

© Camille Farrah Lenain - Beth, 27, holding a dead duck she had harvested earlier than morning in Goldust, Louisiana. November 2019.
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Beth, 27, holding a dead duck she had harvested earlier than morning in Goldust, Louisiana. November 2019.

© Camille Farrah Lenain - Image from the The Waiting photography project
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Sisters McKinley and Emme, 25 and 15, are embracing by a shed in their backyard in Arndaudville, Louisiana, February 2021. They both grew up hunting with their father and grandmother. Mckinley has a young son and Tracy is about to graduate highschool

© Camille Farrah Lenain - Image from the The Waiting photography project
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An azalea bush in a pine forest in Derby, Mississippi, typical flowers from the US South that flourishes in the Spring. March 2021.

© Camille Farrah Lenain - Image from the The Waiting photography project
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Victoria, a huntress originally from North Louisiana, practices with her bow in Natchew, Mississippi. Victoria primarily hunts deer and prefers bow from rifle. April 2021.

© Camille Farrah Lenain - Image from the The Waiting photography project
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Lucie, 36, a French huntress, owns lands with her husband near Montpellier, and goes hunt the hogs and deer that go into their vineyards. Domaine de Figaret, France. August 2020.

© Camille Farrah Lenain - Image from the The Waiting photography project
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Brooke, 28, a huntress from Louisiana, throwing wooden ducks in the rice fields in Goldust, Louisiana in order to attract live ones. November 2019.

© Camille Farrah Lenain - Image from the The Waiting photography project
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A couple snipes and a mallard duck on the back of a truck, surrounded by saladelle, a flower from Camargue, Southern France. August 2020.

© Camille Farrah Lenain - Image from the The Waiting photography project
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Bald Cypresses in the marsh, Southern Louisiana. Bald cypresses are some of the oldest trees of the region and are typical of the South. December 2020.

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