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Carline Bourdelas : Au Fil des pages, Des images In collaboration with we are_
and curated by Laura Serani
Opening week of Les Rencontres d’Arles:
Monday to Sunday, from 11 am to 1 pm and from 2 pm to 7 pm.
Thursday 9 July: closed to the public from 11 am to 3 pm. Open from 3 pm to 7 pm.
From 15 to 31 July:
Tuesday to Saturday, from 11 am to 1 pm and from 3 pm to 7 pm.
Sunday: from 3 pm to 7 pm.
Closed from 1 to 19 August 2026.
From 19 to 29 August:
Wednesday to Saturday, from 11 am to 1 pm and from 4 pm to 7 pm.
Sunday: from 4 pm to 7 pm.
And by appointment.
Writing, like photography, freezes time, brings past moments back to life and makes them resonate, transporting us to other dimensions of time and space, to parallel worlds where reality and imagination create new narratives.
If solitude is a prerequisite for the act of writing as much as for the photographic act, conversely, the practice of photography, writing, and by extension reading, are undeniable antidotes to solitude.
“Collective” artist residencies, a potential threat to this condition of creative solitude, sometimes paradoxically allow for valuable exchanges that foster creative processes and the blossoming of projects.
I write these lines reflecting on various experiences over the years, and in particular on my encounter with Carline Bourdelas during her residency in Deauville with the photo4food foundation for the Planches Contact festival in 2023.
Carline Bourdelas has long reflected on the place and function of art in the lives of artists, striving to understand the mysteries of creation, in the middle of torments, questions, and attempts at answers.
Upon her arrival, she gave the impression of almost single-handedly embodying the artist’s solitude—her doubts, her questions about her role, and about the meaning, value, and legitimacy of her work. As the days went by, bonds were formed, surrounding and supporting her in a new way. Her project gradually took shape, her plans became concrete, and her vulnerabilities transformed into a kind of grace.
©Carline_Bourdelas Au fils des pages, Des images
Her attraction to books, her passion for photography and Normandy, inspired her literature-related project and her initial “research” on Proust, before she turned her attention to the work and personalities of Balzac and Sagan, which gave rise to the three series presented, in their entirety and together, for the first time in this exhibition.
In her quest, Carline Bourdelas explores the worlds of the chosen authors as much as her own.
In a dance step, she draws near and moves away from them, sharing the questions, fears, and desires that inhabit them; fascinated and frightened.
With her extreme sensitivity, she seems to deeply feel the moods of these authors, who draw her into a relationship of identification, into a secret place, from which she narrates visually in their stead and alongside them.
Carline Bourdelas’s poetic writing plays with twilight and darkness, with blurriness and the fleeting, with repetition, with appearances and disappearances.
Her aesthetic, imbued with nostalgia, supports her reflections on the passage of time, loss, beauty, memories, and small joys. A world that is at times dark, at times sunny, over which a subtle melancholy hangs.
Laura Serani
Exhibition Curator
About the artiste :
Carline Bourdelas is a French photographer based in Paris. After studying law, she fully devoted herself to photography, a practice she has pursued since her teenage years. Her work, initially rooted in street photography, has gradually evolved towards staged compositions, influenced by painting, cinema and fairy tales.
Through a refined and sensitive approach, she explores themes such as solitude, childhood, femininity and memory. Her images seek to reveal fragile inner worlds and to give lasting form to emotions and fading memories.
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Note to Editors
About Galerie Huit Arles :
Founded in 2007, Galerie Huit Arles has built a strong reputation thanks to the careful selection of its artists — both established and emerging — and the quality of its displays and installations. Exhibitions are organised independently or in collaboration with other institutions and organisations.
Its many partnerships have included the Victoria and Albert Museum in London, the Helmut Newton Foundation in Berlin, The British Journal of Photography, Factum Arte, and Galerie Sit Down in Paris.
In addition to its regular exhibitions and prestigious openings, the gallery hosts artistic stays for discerning travellers, artist residencies and themed workshops.
More than just an exhibition space, Galerie Huit Arles is a place of creation, inspiration and conviviality, set in an exceptional location.
About we are :
Founded in 2019 by Eric Newton, Charles-Henri Tranié and Pierre-Eric Leibovici, we are_ is both a community and a place that brings together leaders, entrepreneurs, investors, artists and people passionate about creativity.
This new-generation club celebrates creative power as an expression of French talent and savoir-faire. As such, We Are supports the emerging French creative scene through daily exhibitions, concerts, theatre performances, stand-up shows and more, both within the club and beyond its walls.
With already 1,300 members and 1,000 companies, connected to a network of 8,000 professionals, we are_ is the first club in France dedicated to the creative, cultural and digital industries.
Following its success in Paris, we are_ is opening in Lille to support the dynamism of local cultural and creative industries and to strengthen synergies between the region and national and international ecosystems.
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