Valérie Jouve’s photographic and film work is rooted in the alchemy between bodies and space, humanity and the urban landscape. Titled Bodies, Resisting this exhibition at Jeu de Paume offers a substantial selection of works from the late 1980s up to the present day. 

In her exploration of the relationship between people’s bodies and urban spaces, Valérie Jouve brings a poetic and political eye to the issues raised by changes in society today. Jouve’s work registers the tensions between urban space and the people in it. 

The classic subjects of landscape and portrait are brought together in a way that draws splendidly choreographed scenes out of the intensity of urban situations. With its roots in mise en scène, Jouve’s work lies somewhere between fiction and documentary. Her oeuvre is founded in an exploration of the ability of images to reveal a reality experienced by all.

This first monographic exhibition by Valérie Jouve comprises numerous photographs and films made over the last 25 years. It will also be the first presentation of Blues, a work created specifically for the exhibition. 

Valérie Jouve seeks to offer the viewer not compassion, but action. She is sometimes moved to anger by people’s resignation. 

She has approached the presentation of Bodies, Resisting as if it were a musical composition, imbued with a momentum that makes the viewer a participant. Visitors are invited to move through the exhibition in a way that makes them active. 

“I’m trying to conjure up a kind of intensity I feel in living things…I’m working on inhabiting a space and I hope viewers come to experience that space through the images.”
–Valérie Jouve

Curators: the artist, Marta Gili and Pia Viewing. 

Check out our website to know more about the exhibition.

Also at Jeu de Paume until June 27:
Germaine Krull: A Photographer’s Journey and Khvay Samnang: Rubber Man.

The Jeu de Paume is subsidised by the French Ministry of Culture and Communication.
It is supported by Neuflize Vie and la manufacture Jaeger-Lecoultre, special partners.

Image may be NSFW.
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