Edouard Fraipoint

Art Genes relationship with Visiting Arts and the British Council continues to go from strength to strength after a recent three month residency by Colombian artist Milena Bonilla.

In 2007 we were again approached by Visiting Arts and Roberta Mahfouz, Artist Links manager, British Council, Sau Paulo, Brazil to host two artists. Edouard Fraipont and Fabiano Marques were selected for the residencies.

During his time at Art Gene Edouard Fraipoint spent much of his time visiting Piel Island, making a series of long exposure photographs in and around the former Customs Cottage in which we arranged for him to stay. Piel Island has only three buildings The terrace of former Customs Cottages, the ruins of Piel Castle and the Ship Inn. Piel is one of the nine main islands of Barrow and was gifted to the people of the town as a war memorial by the Duke of Buccleuch in 1920.

Art Gene are working within the newly refurbished Ship Inn to create a visitor centre and small museum of curiosities in partnership with Barrow Borough Council. The collection includes items exploring the history of Piel, it’s Kings, beginning with Lambert Simnel in 1487, Barrow’s Industrial Achievements in the production of Iron, Ships, submarines and Airships and the Nationally recognised Nature Reserves and SSSI’s and RAMSAR’s which make up around 70% of the Borough and include Piel Island.

 

Image above: Piel Island series, Edouard Fraipont, 2007

 

Artists Statement

Based on iconography, the intention of the project is creating a conflict between fiction and reality. Fantastic scenes, surreal (unreal) images arise from the recording of real actions. To work with shadows and artificial light allow me to have a better control of what will be registered by the pellicle (the film). I hold a flashlight in my hand and I move along. With it, I create a distorted photographic testimony as I stretch, crawl, transform myself; get closer, and then disappear, becoming another being. Thus, the project discusses the photographic language, reality and the metaphysics of the beings.

 

External links

Edouard Fraipont

 

Image below: Piel Island No.5, Edouard Fraipont, Back Light, 2007