Wind into the Soul

Written by Pierre Bongiovanni, exhibition curator

Often, photographers seek to describe what they perceive of reality. They try to document the world or bear witness.

Muriel Pénicaud's approach is of a different nature. Here, the images are doors, and each one opens the possibility of a narrative in the consciousness of the viewer. Whether this narrative concerns the reality of the photographed situation or not is of no importance.

For her, what matters, as in her previous work around birds ("Wind under the Wings"), is the state of incredulity, even amazement, into which the situation she photographs plunges her.

Whether these images were taken yesterday or today, here or elsewhere, is also irrelevant. These moments did indeed exist, they presented themselves to her, she seized them, transformed them into images to try to understand and then share their spell.

In this new series dedicated to women, she positions herself as a woman among women and is completely resolved to not give up anything, neither on her singularity nor on her freedom to think and act as such.

The women she celebrates, beyond ages, cultures, religions, and ideologies, demonstrate their capacity to express their freedom, autonomy, and sovereignty through the strength born from the power of their inner selves. It is because they have this ability to give their presence in the world an epic dimension that they are also capable of embodying the desire for movement and freedom.

By identifying this in other women, she admits to recognizing herself in them, while also offering the viewer, whether child or adult, man or woman, the gift of finding themselves in it as the irreplaceable and indispensable repository of all the world's mysteries.