This series was initiated in 2012 in Ethiopia when Floriane saw the long lines of women walking alongside the road in direction of the market. They often carry the first necessity goods they will sell on their heads, leading to Floriane’s idea
This series was initiated in 2012 during a trip to Ethiopia where Floriane discovered, then followed, discontinuous lines of women leaving at dusk to the market, to sell or exchange items created or collected for products of first necessity for themselves and their families.
Thus, by finding many women by the roadside, in columns, going to the market or returning from the fields, Floriane de Lassée had the idea of turning them into « head sculptures », initiating her first series of portraits, based on images of modern caryatids. These people represent « life-carriers », many of whom, we discover, carry, in addition to their goods on the head, a contextual weight. This is the weight we all carry insidiously: the weight of family, social differences, age, and cultural heritage... It is about transmission and memory, a dimension that today’s hurried life teaches us to respect.
To that, one must add Floriane’s desire to show the individual conviction to achieve their dreams, revealed through the powerful eye expressions, the pride to accomplish their journey independently and do their part just like the hummingbird. This is the weight we all carry insidiously: the weight of the family, social differences, age, cultural heritage... It is about transmission and memory, a dimension that today’s hurried life teaches us to respect.
Floriane de Lassée has managed to create introspective portraits, starting from the most ordinary everyday life, with frontal framing inviting us to a playful face-to-face. Far from photojournalism, she depicts these physical and mental burdens, while alleviating the “bundle” of each, through a system of digitally erased cables, giving place to the game and the imagination that accompanies our beliefs.
This journey will offer you a moment of joyful reflection on the weight you carry on your shoulders, what you want to shed, but also what you are proud of. I imagine the children on their parent’s shoulders, I see the backpacks as promises of memorable picnics with stunning views, I think of those wearing a simple straw hat and, in this joyous procession, these works «carrying life» will accompany you by resonating fully with the site.
