Born in 1977 in Île de France, lives and works in Montpellier.
Hélène Jayet's work, mixing drawing and photography, questions colonial history and the arbitrary place attributed by societies to individuals. Her photographic research began with a study of Afro hair, carried out through encounters, her models having their African origins in common. This first investigation, Chin-up - colored only!, is a counterpoint to that of Casimir Zagoursky who, at the beginning of the century, photographed the richness of the indigenous hairstyles of Africa, immortalizing them in his numerous travel diaries. In contrast to Zagoursky's voyeuristic approach, Hélène Jayet proposes an approach that is similar to a performance. Her project includes both the photographic act and the deployment of the photographic studio, the discussion with her subjects, always Afro-descendants, and the proposal, as a whole, to raise their heads proudly (chin-up!). First exhibited in 2013, the Chin-up - colored only! series continues to grow and offers Afro-descendants a space to take their image in hand. It plunges us into an African iconographic history that colonisation has transformed into a series of acts of predation, and proposes a way out... By raising the chin-up!
Since this work, the artist has returned to drawing and developed a new style. Starting with images gleaned from historical works, photographs or the canvas, Hélène Jayet reinterprets, blackening her Canson, point by point, until the original image is blurred, forcing us to step back. An extension of her photographs, this practice transforms the pixels of the prints into a series of ink stains, which sometimes densely populate her sheets, and recreate imaginary landscapes. Realistic or abstract, these drawings are intimate. They trace the history of a memory and an identity that are specific to the artist, and travel between Mali and the Basque country, from the musical breath to Béjart's dance steps.
The latter, developed during residencies in Dakar, Bamako or Ifitri in Morocco in 2019, are being exhibited for the first time in Paris. The artist's photographs have been exhibited at the La Gacilly festival, the Zinsou Foundation in Benin, the Rencontres photographiques de Guyane, the Bamako and Dakar biennials, as well as at the Macaal in Marrakech, the BOZAR museum in Brussels and the Afrikan Museum in the Netherlands.
HÉLÈNE JAYET
CURRICULUM VITAE
SOLO SHOWS - Selection
2018
Chroniques Maliennes, « I love Africa », Festival de la Gacilly-Baden - Autriche
2017
Chroniques Maliennes, « I love Africa », Festival de la Gacilly France - France
2014
Adoptés, L’origine de l’histoire, Enfance et Famille d’adoption, Sisteron - France
Colored Only, Summer of photography, Alliance Française de Bruxelles - Belgique
2013
Colored Only, Espace Transit, Montpellier - France
Adoptés, L’origine de l’histoire, Conseil Général Haute-Garonne Toulouse - France
Adoptés, L’origine de l’histoire, Les Olivetains, Saint-Bertrand de Comminges - France
GROUP SHOWS - Selection
2020
SMALL, 31 PROJECT, Paris – France
Galeristes, 31 PROJECT, Paris – France
Messe pour le temps présent, variations (commissariat d'exposition : Charlotte Lidon), 31 PROJECT, Paris - France
2018
Colored Only, Biennale Africaine de Bamako « Afrotopia » Afrikan Museum, Pays-Bas
Colored Only, « The politics of images », Festival Foto International Ipatinga - Brésil
Colored Only, BRIDGE Off Biennale de Dakar, Musée de la photographie de Saint-Louis - Sénégal
Colored Only, « Africa is no Island », Musée d’Art Contemporain Africain Al Maaden, Marrakech - Maroc
2017
Colored Only, Biennale Africaine de Bamako « Afrotopia », Musée National du Mali - Mali
Colored Only, Rencontres Photographiques du 10 eme, Paris - France
Colored Only, « The politics of images », Festival Foto International Belo Horizonte - Brésil
2015
Colored Only, Embodied Spaces, Gallery Framer Framed, Amsterdam – Pays-Bas
2014
Colored Only, La parole aux femmes, Fondation Blachère, Apt - France
Colored Only, « Where we’re at - others voices of gender », Summer of photography BOZAR Bruxelles - Belgique
Colored Only, Festival ÉMOI photographique d’Angoulême - France
2013
Chroniques maliennes, Distant Horizons, Third Floor Gallery, Cardiff, Walles - UK
2011
Nous Somme(s) Transphotographiques NORD[S], Tri postal Lille - France
Colored Only, Festival Fotografia Europea Reggio Emilia - Italie
Colored Only, Circulation(s), Jardins de Bagatelle, Paris - France
2010
Chroniques Maliennes, Biennale de Luang Prabang OFF, Luang Prabang - Laos
2008
Chroniques Maliennes, Festival international du Scoop et du journalisme, Angers – France
EDUCATION
2001
École Image ouverte – Photographie
École Emi – Cfd, Paris - Photojournalisme
2000
École des Beaux-arts de Montpellier – Arts plastiques
WITH 31 PROJECT
PUBLICATION
EXHIBITIONS
2020
SMALL, group show
Messe pour le temps présent, group show, commissariat Charlotte Lidon
ARTFAIRS
2020
Galeristes, Paris