Exhibitions to watch, to read, write and play
For all audiences (2012 et 2016) by Agnès Desfosses
As a director and co-director of the European biennial PREMIÈRES RENCONTRES, I have seen how sensitive very young spectators are to the CREATIVITY of performing artists. They are available, attentive, concentrated, curious and moved by these creations.
Under the generic title of “CHILDREN LOOKING FOR GOLD”, I set up different exhibitions, documenting through photography, the creativity of the very young in early childhood structures in cities of 5 European countries (2010-2012) then in Japan, Brazil and Reunion Island (2015).
These exhibitions show the diversity of early childhood development contexts:
It questions what does or does not nourish the first individual and collective life experiences of the very young;
what does or does not reinforce their freedom of expression and creativity;
what does or does not develop their solidarity with their peers.What guided my shooting was this questioning:
What respects, develops, stimulates or hinders the creativity of young children in the daily life of early childhood institutions and during art workshops? In what way can the living environment encourage the development of this creativity? How does it open up in contact with nature, the Other and the object?With ENFANCES CHERCHEURS D’OR (2012), exhibition-book (2015), exhibition-table and exhibition-cube (2016) I share and transmit what I have documented during the daily activities and those exceptional of the artistic workshops of the early childhood structures. These exhibitions, viewed, read and commented on by several people, help us to reflect on our educational attitudes.
They can be shared by a network for training, observations with groups of children, parents or during festivals.My vision as a photographer is not neutral: it is subjective and coloured by my culture of origin but also by my appetite for openness to the world. Today, in order to nourish our dialogue, it is your own view of these photographs that I am seeking through these exhibitions. The research and the approach remain open!
Agnès Desfosses