Au pied de la lettre

EVENT DESCRIPTION

Florence Levillain’s personal work has always focused on rediscovering the universes that are close to everyone but are unknown or forgotten by many. The French language is one of these universes: every day, French people use lots of vivid metaphors, without thinking about their literal meaning or understanding their origin.

Florence revisits these expressions and places them in the spotlight by framing them into pictures “au pied de la lettre” or “literally”. The result is an unusual series of photography works which aims to raise awareness of the lyricism and humour of French language metaphors.

Part of the French May Arts Festival 2023 

Venues: Alliance Française de Hong Kong (Wan Chai and Jordan Centres), Parenthèses & Boogie Woogie Photography

ABOUT THE ARTIST / ORGANISER

Florence Levillain began her career as a photojournalist in 1994. She explores a wide range of territories, from the corporate world to the streets of the suburbs. She works for the press (Libération, Le Monde, etc.) with numerous reports abroad on social issues.

The world of advertising then noticed her taste for daily life scenes. Her curiosity about the world around us led her to the heart of companies in a wide variety of sectors. In search for authentic proximity with people, her personal work makes us discover the neglected aspects of our everyday life. She won the Kodak prize for a report on women working at night in Rungis. Since 2009, Florence Levillain has been working on beauty rituals and photographing people at their hairdressers or in a beauty salon. Thirteen of these works have then been added to the permanent collection of the French Museum of Photography.