Joan of Arc and the Lake of Silences

This series is a quest for the invisible, the result of a lack deepened by the silence and neglect surrounding the history of my native region, marked by the rising waters of the immense lake at its centre. This stretch of water hides the sunken village of Jeanne-d’Arc, once flooded in a secret action by industrial companies. Of this past, and of the militant voices who spoke out against this fate, little remains other than the stories of the lives, struggles and traumas of the displaced, where I was able to take refuge. Inhabited by these stories, I photographed the former site of the village of Jeanne-d’Arc, now transformed into a tourist attraction. By reworking the images I had taken and by listening to them, I discovered my own sensitive relationship to drowning and silence, which has been forged by my family and personal history. As in the case of my native region, talking about it can’t be done without suffering, because everything we don’t say resurfaces one day or another and consumes us.