Dany Leriche and Jean Michel Fickinger live and work in France.
From the series Divinités Noires.
About:
Divinités Noires.
Unveiling a collection of large-scale photographs printed on canvas and tarpaulin, these portraits were taken by the French artists in Togo and Benin on the occasion of ritual ceremonies. Contrary to the ethnographic use of photography, the models used here become active subjects rather than mere objects of observation.
Divinités Noires.
The way in which they project themselves onto the lens, in which they take hold of the image that they wish to portray of themselves, the way in which they play with the ritual of picture shooting; the entirety of their participative attitude, far from harming the documentary quality of the images, enriches them.
ABOUT THE ARTISTS
Dany Leriche and Jean Michel Fickinger live and work in France. Their artistic collaboration was born at the same time of their first meeting, 20 years ago. From the start, they have provided us with a second reading of the image of women in the history of Western painting. Today, they travel throughout Africa, drawn by the mysteries of certain customs that have survived the passage of time, and lead research on those spiritual minorities that show resistance to globalization and scientific materialism. In the long term, their work consists of exploring the source of different cultures, particularly as they question the interactions between identity and ceremonies for the sacred.
Divinités Noires.
Leriche and Fickinger show their work in galleries and museums as well as in cultural centers in France and abroad, including Korea, Brazil and Canada. They have been recognized with theVilla Médicis Hors les Murs in 2006 for their work in Mali, an artist residency at the Sacatar Institute in Brazil in 2009, and the Mention spéciale du jury of the Prix Scam Roger Pic in 2011 for their seriesChasseurs de l’invisible. Dany Leriche teaches visual arts at the Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne. Jean Michel Fickingerteaches photography at the École Nationale Supérieure d’Art de Nancy. http://dljmf.org