Le 4 octobre 2018, j’ai présenté une communication intitulée Après le mythe de la liberté, photographier la société de l’ombre post-68 (After the Myth of Freedom: Photographing the Shadow Society Post-’68) dans le cadre du colloque du CERLI (Centre d’Études et de Recherche sur les Littératures de l’Imaginaire), organisé à l’Université de La Rochelle par Danièle André, Annabel Audureau et Élodie Chazalon. Cet événement a exploré les figures de la rébellion et de la contestation sociale dans les littératures et arts de l’imaginaire, en mettant en lumière des artistes et écrivains qui ont marqué les représentations de la transgression.
Article’s thumbnail: Screeshot of the presentation
Presentation reference:
Après le mythe de la liberté, photographier la société de l’ombre post-68 / After the Myth of Freedom: Photographing the Shadow Society Post-’68,
presentation on the works of Molinier, Strömholm, Witkin, and Mapplethorpe for the CERLI (Centre for the Study and Research on the Literatures of the Imaginary) conference Rebelles: figures et représentations de la contestation sociale dans les littératures de l’imaginaire at the University of La Rochelle, organized by Danièle André, Annabel Audureau, and Elodie Chazalon.
Rebels and Margins: A Photography of the Forbidden
My presentation focused on the photographic works of Pierre Molinier, Christer Strömholm, Joel-Peter Witkin, and Robert Mapplethorpe, artists who defied social and aesthetic norms by capturing marginal bodies, queer identities, fetishism, and the aesthetics of the strange.
Through their work, these photographers revealed a shadow society in the post-68 era, where ideals of sexual, political, and artistic freedom clashed with tensions and repression. Far from being mere testimony, their work acts as a distorted mirror of society, balancing fascination and provocation.
Issues Addressed in this Presentation
- How does photography become a space of social and political contestation?
- In what ways do these transgressive works contribute to a rewriting of the body and marginal identities?
- What role do rebellion and the forbidden play in contemporary photography?
A Reflection on the Post-68 Legacy in Art
By questioning the tensions between freedom and censorship, between eroticism and subversion, this presentation highlighted the resistances and legacies of the protest movements of 1968 in the visual imaginary.
The analysis of these artists helped reveal how photography continues to disturb, unsettle, and challenge our relationship to the image and to norms.