SYNOPSIS us | xdumont

LE CŒUR ORGANE DE NOTRE VIE INTIME

HEART n.

Anatomy

The chambered muscular organ in vertebrates that pumps blood received from the veins into the arteries, thereby maintaining the flow of blood through the entire circulatory system.

A similarly functioning structure in invertebrates.

The area that is the approximate location of the heart in the body; the breast.

The vital center and source of one's being, emotions, and sensibilities.

The repository of one's deepest and sincerest feelings and beliefs: an appeal from the heart; a subject dear to her heart.

The seat of the intellect or imagination: the worst atrocities the human heart could devise.. Emotional constitution, basic disposition, or character: a man after my own heart.

One's prevailing mood or current inclination: We were light of heart.

Capacity for sympathy or generosity; compassion: a leader who seems to have no heart.

Love; affection: The child won my heart.

INTIMACY n.

The condition of being intimate.

An instance of being intimate.

In the collective conscience, intimacy is often linked to nudity. In medicine, a patient’s nudity is seen as purely anatomical, but another intimacy exists, just as individual, that of the heart. The heart is an essential organ for life. It is first noticed at around 5 weeks of age in the embryo. The sound of the heartbeat is unique for each individual, it varies in intensity, in frequency, in its tone. Depending on one’s age, one’s experience, and on emotions felt, its rhythm differs, thereby giving an identity.

The intensity of the beat symbolizes life and love. A foetus can hear its mother’s heart and vice versa. Lover’s hearts are confused. These are moments of extreme closeness. The concept of these living portraits originated from a family story about a cousin buried in the Pantheon, a monument in Paris that welcomes since 1791 the tombs of illustrious French men. His heart was given to his family in a glass vial.

To echo this lost tradition of enclosing the heart of certain great men, but also in contrast, that I wished to give life to the hearts of women, who are absent from the Pantheon, in a portrait.

With Coeur de Femmes, the photographer finally joins the doctor, and in some respects surpasses him.

24 women, 24 portraits, 24 hearts, 24 heartbeats, a sound testimony of a life.

I like exchanges. I was moved by the story of those women met by accident during my travels, during my consultations, or simply unexpectedly. Through their different ages, and their lives, they represent ALL women the sensitivity through they experience. Interested in my project, they have volunteered for it to allow me to capture their stare. Their heartbeat expresses the emotion of their thoughts at the very instant the photo was taken. By revealing to all the sound of their heart, they share their intimacy, which is usually imperceptible. Associated with the facial expression, the pulse of the heart awakens your senses thus allowing you to truly appreciate the portrait and interpret the life of the person.

The recording of the person’s heart sounds is done using an acoustic microphone in order to transcribe as precisely as possible human hearing. Mounted in video, the series of images associates successively images / sounds / silence on a black screen to allow the public to memorise the different sounds and faces. In this way, each group of intimate elements has a life, a story. This series will slowly grow in number over the coming years with a view to marking time.

Translation thank Soren Healy