Zabo ChabilanD
CORPS EN SUSPENS
Series of 12 full-length portraits printed at 1:1 scale.
X-ray film. 1997
In 1895, Wilhem Röntgen serendipitously discovered X-rays. The first photograph dates from December 22, 1895. From 1897, Antoine Béclère understood the benefit that medicine could derive from it.
In around twenty years medical radio will be supplanted by MRI. This is the end of the cycle.
Zabo Chabiland's photos represent life-size characters developed on x-ray films. The artist turned into a radiologist. She transformed her photographic studio into a special hospital service. This is hospitality.
We only see the skin in one direction. The “Corps en suspens” series is a new experience. The photographer’s eye is inside the body. The artist suggests seeing the skin from the inside, without worrying about external bodily appearance. She erased all expression. Through the eyes of the subjects, we imagine Zabo Chabiland photographing. It is a total experience. An inversion.
Zabo Chabiland's portfolio is based on a desire to go beyond the composition which refers to an immediate reality. Her work goes beyond the surface while using it, breaking existing benchmarks to give rise to new ones. Project the gaze beyond, towards the unlimited interior of what is represented on the surface.
In her “Corps en suspens” series, the body is the camera obscura taken to its extreme. It detects the intimacy of being outside its representation, its facade. What is photographed could be associated with the soul.
Jérôme Karsenti