Solastalgia

Solastalgia is a story about a french village, Miquelon, located near Canada, facing enormous challenges due to climate change.

Solastalgia is a term invented by Philosopher Glenn Albrecht in the 2000's. Formed with the words Solace and Nostalgia, the term describes a feeling that appears when confronted with a radical change of the environment where one grew up or spent a lifetime in. Solastalgia is what I felt when I discovered that the place I grew up as a child was facing an entire relocation due to climate change. In Miquelon, a French Island part of Saint-Pierre et Miquelon, a French territory located near Canada, the village is located below sea level which led to a political decision that declared the actual location of the village was inconstructible. The sea level rising above houses, gardens, fields makes it impossible for anyone to project themselves. Being one of the most beautiful places I have ever lived in and the dearest to my heart makes it hard for me to face the idea of any kind of disappearance of this land and its people. I went back to see by myself what the situation was and talked it through with friends and inhabitants I discovered or rediscovered there. I started a documentary project as well as a portrait of all 500 inhabitants using polaroids immersed in water where all faces disappear leaving a maritime landscape instead. By reprinting the polaroids on subtil veils, I play with the appearance and disappearance of faces and landscapes captured by the photo camera.

"These photographs were produced as part of the major national commission "Radioscopy of France: views on a country crossed by the health crisis" financed by the Ministry of Culture and piloted by the BnF.