KLODIENN
INSTALLATION – CALL FOR PARTICIPATION
KLODIENN is a doll.
An unreal, unreal-looking character, which is nevertheless present in the psychic, love, daily life, the relationship to the body of very many women of all origins.
Which imposes itself, crystallizes desires, frustrations, anger, self-hatred, impossible goals, a fantasized image of being other than oneself.
The name of the doll, Klodienn, refers to two female figures corresponding to a stereotype, to the physical norm imposed on women by post-industrial Western society, and very significant in the 1990s: the supermodel Claudia Schiffer, and the character of legend Helen of Troy. Both blondes,
both invested with a strong symbolic charge, both supposed to represent the perfection of feminine beauty at a given moment in history.
The power of this stereotype is immense, invisible, interior, and the doll materializes it, in everyday situations. The photos portray these situations for women of all ages who recognize themselves in this issue.
What she says. What her body says. Echo of what women hear throughout their lives. Sentences return, carried by the body of the doll. These are sentences that for many were not pronounced with violent intent but in a "normal" or humorous context, which interests me all the more because their violence is not always direct but insidious, born of repetition, of accumulation.
The doll that I re-create tells these stories. She is covered with stares. The eyes of men, women.
Looks glued to her, looks that her body carries and integrates. She watches and she is watched.
Meeting women: creative process and call for participation
As part of the creative process of KLODIENN, which combines installation photography and writing, I have launched a call for participation aimed at women (all ages, all origins and profiles) who wish to participate in this adventure to create their portraits with the KLODIENN doll. and integrate their portraits and testimonies into the installation.
Any woman who feels concerned, touched or just interested in the theme of female bodily experience and the way our society constructs it around physical and symbolic stereotypes, can participate. The memory and experience of these stereotypes are at the heart of the research, which also concerns bodily feelings in a broader sense (self-image, physical pain, relationship to food, etc.)
The meetings are done individually or in collective workshops, in Paris or in the other places where I travel.
. Photo shoots
The female volunteers meet me (and meet the KLODIENN doll!), and then we make an appointment for a session in the place of their choice (public place, home… these are not studio photos but in everyday contexts ) . I do not impose any staging, my priority is that the photo emanates from the sharing with the women… but I can also propose ideas at the request of the participants.
. Collages / symbolic dolls
I suggest that women enter into my artistic process and use a doll-object that seems significant to them; it could be a doll belonging to them or a recycled doll that I will offer to their choice. The collage elements will come from salvaged magazines.
I made the choice to cover the KLODIENN doll with a collage of looks, for each participant to imagine what the body of her doll says.
. Audio/words and phrases collection
Women who wish to can share the words, phrases, situations related to their experience of the stereotype, or address the doll, or « make it talk ».
KLODIENN is a doll.
An unreal, unreal-looking character, which is nevertheless present in the psychic, love, daily life,
the relationship to the body of very many women of all origins.
Which imposes itself, crystallizes desires, frustrations, anger, self-hatred, impossible goals, a
fantasized image of being other than oneself.
The name of the doll, Klodienn, refers to two female figures corresponding to a stereotype, to the
physical norm imposed on women by post-industrial Western society, and very significant in the
1990s: the supermodel Claudia Schiffer, and the character of legend Helen of Troy. Both blondes,
both invested with a strong symbolic charge, both supposed to represent the perfection of feminine
beauty at a given moment in history.
The power of this stereotype is immense, invisible, interior, and the doll materializes it, in everyday
situations. The photos portray these situations for women of all ages who recognize themselves in
this issue.
What she says. What her body says. Echo of what women hear throughout their lives. Sentences
return, carried by the body of the doll. These are sentences that for many were not pronounced
with violent intent but in a "normal" or humorous context, which interests me all the more because
their violence is not always direct but insidious, born of repetition, of accumulation.
The doll that I re-create tells these stories. She is covered with stares. The eyes of men, women.
Looks glued to her, looks that her body carries and integrates. She watches and she is watched.
Meeting women: creative process and call for participation
As part of the creative process of KLODIENN, which combines installation photography and
writing, I have launched a call for participation aimed at women (all ages, all origins and profiles)
who wish to participate in this adventure to create their portraits with the KLODIENN doll. and
integrate their portraits and testimonies into the installation.
Any woman who feels concerned, touched or just interested in the theme of female bodily
experience and the way our society constructs it around physical and symbolic stereotypes, can
participate. The memory and experience of these stereotypes are at the heart of the research,
which also concerns bodily feelings in a broader sense (self-image, physical pain, relationship to
food, etc.)
The meetings are done individually or in collective workshops, in Paris or in the other places where
I travel.
. Photo shoots
The female volunteers meet me (and meet the KLODIENN doll!), and then we make an
appointment for a session in the place of their choice (public place, home… these are not studio
photos but in everyday contexts ) . I do not impose any staging, my priority is that the photo
emanates from the sharing with the women… but I can also propose ideas at the request of the
participants.
. Collages / symbolic dolls
I suggest that women enter into my artistic process and use a doll-object that seems significant to
them; it could be a doll belonging to them or a recycled doll that I will offer to their choice. The
collage elements will come from salvaged magazines.
I made the choice to cover the KLODIENN doll with a collage of looks, for each participant to
imagine what the body of her doll says.
. Audio/words and phrases collection
Women who wish to can share the words, phrases, situations related to their experience of the
stereotype, or address the doll, or "make it talk".