reflected movement

Who am I? The reflection the mirror returns to me? The one in the eyes of others? Am I the person I display through frantic stories and carefully crafted posts? On social media, I express myself. I take a stand. I expose, I conceal. I make myself mysterious or shameless. I curate my image, I show myself at my best, I select what I reveal. But who am I, really? Behind every artifice, behind the make-up, the clothes, the retouched image, the flattering angle. Striving to match the canons of beauty, the social norm, what is expected of us: that is where our energy is lost, in a frantic race toward someone other than ourselves.

What the artist set out to explore through dance and photography is the close and terribly blurred relationship between who we are and how we want to be perceived. In the age of personal branding and e-reputation, confusion has become the norm. Everyone presents an enhanced version of themselves... He sees it, on the contrary, as an altered one.

Through this series, Jonathan Couvent offers a reflection on the question of identity: is the true "self" not hidden, like the submerged part of an iceberg? What is visible, what we are willing to show, may be nothing but a reflection. To him, the part in focus, with all its flaws, is the most interesting one.

Special thanks to the dancers who made this series possible:
Lauralie Aulner, Noémie Kurtz, Noa Nies, Georges Maikel Pires Monteiro, and to the whole 3C-L team for its support.

If you would like to acquire a numbered print from this series, you can make a request via the Contact page.