“I really liked the idea of an immaterial image that could take on any form and disappear in a second.
All you have to do is turn on the light and there’s nothing left”.

In the early 1980s, Christian Boltanski used projection, then shadows, to transform the ordinary into the magical.
Creating a dim light source with candles and then light bulbs, he developed a visual vocabulary all his own.
He created his first shadow theater with fragile, cobbled-together cardboard puppets, through which he evokes our ghosts and fears of disappearance but also our desire to rediscover childlike fascination and carefreeness.

Conceived by the Christian Boltanski Endowment Fund, this exhibition reminds us of the artist’s powerful work on absence.

Transfo – Emmaüs Solidarité

Photo Credit: Marc Domage / Courtesy Transfo – Emmaüs Solidarité