I can picture the night of October 9,1963, at 10.38pm. A clear full moon night, shining over the waters of the Vajont Dam, and a deep silence covering the valley.
I cannot picture the insane violence that occurred right after. Reading testimonials of survivors – trying to tell the landslide noise, how they were thrown in the air before the tsunami’s impact, and losing their whole family in the space of a few seconds, buried forever – my mind balks, unable to consider the madness of an event whose closest experience would certainly be that of the end of the world.
I couldn’t document anything while in Vajont. Photography would only find its way through fiction, chasing visual elements that would compose a tale that I could possibly understand.
(Ongoing project)
Posso descrivere la notte del 9 Ottobre 1963 alle 10.39 della sera. Una chiara notte di luna piena, splendente sulle acque del lago della diga del Vajont; un grande silenzio copriva la valle.
Non posso certamente descrivere la violenza arrivata subito dopo. Leggendo le testimonianze dei sopravvissuti – i racconti del rumore della frana, di come siano stati lanciati in aria prima dell’impatto dello tsunami, perdendo le loro intere famiglie in pochi secondi, sepolte per sempre – la mia mente si infuria, incapace di comprendere la follia di un evento di tale portata comparabile solamente alla fine del mondo.
Non posso documentare nulla di quello che avvenne al Vajont. La fotografia può solo trovare nel suo modo, attraverso la finzione, elementi chiave dal punto di vista visuale, che possano essere composti per creare una tela che permetta di comprendere.
(Progetto in corso)
Céline Clanet (1977) was born and raised in the French Alps.
A graduate from the Ecole Nationale Supérieure de la Photographie of Arles, she is interested in remote places and people, and has been working for over 10 years on the European Arctic region also known as Lapland. Her «Máze» series was awarded with several prizes in Europe and USA, including the Critical Mass Book Award.
Her photographic work is part of the Société Française de Photographie Collection (FR), the Archives Départementales de Savoie (FR), the Portland Art Museum Collection (USA), and several private collections.
Céline published 4 monographs: «Les Chapieux, Géographie d’un Secret» (Actes Sud, France, 2014), «Des Barrages et de Hommes en Savoie» (Actes Sud, France, 2011), «Máze» (Photolucida, USA, 2010) and «Un Mince Vernis de Réalité» (Filigranes, France, 2005).
Sharing her time between personal projects and assignments, her work has been internationally exhibited: Portland Art Museum (USA), Peri Photographic Center (Finland), Northern Photographic Center (Finland), Blue Sky Gallery (USA), Apartment Gallery (Norway), Société Française de Photographie (France), Swedish Institute (France), BOZAR – Brussels Center for Fine Arts (Belgium), BoldHype Gallery (USA), Philips de Pury (UK), Centre Pasquart (Switzeland), French Institute of Valencia (Spain).
Her work was also published in The New Yorker, Dwell, National Geographic Traveler, Modern Farmer, The Independent, The Daily Telegraph, Monocle, Libération, Le Monde, Esquire Russia, Corriere della Sera, L’Alpe, Le Soir, Katalog/Journal of The Brandts Museum of Photography, among others.
Céline lives and work in Paris, France.