On the occasion of the 10e anniversary of his tragic death at the age of 46, Jane Birkin's eldest daughter is the subject of a retrospective aimed at showcasing the diversity of her still largely unknown work, from her portraits and fashion photographs to her landscapes and other "off-the-beaten-path" photographs. A world of fragility and poetry that cannot fail to move the viewer.
“[…] she sweeps away poses and worn-out reflexes […] she wipes the slate clean of gimmicks, she erases the caricature. It’s Vanessa stripped of hair, of style, it’s Laetitia’s gaze, the forgotten body… It’s Emmanuelle’s doubt. […] KB revealed to us all what we had hidden from ourselves, never settling for anything other than the absolute.” Here, in a few strokes, is an eloquent portrait of Kate Barry painted by her half-sister Lou Doillon. One senses the sensitive and demanding eye, always on the lookout for authenticity, of a photographer who cast a unique gaze upon the world.
This was also true of her portraits and self-portraits. Willingly placing her models in uncomfortable, even exhausting, positions, she would "wait a long time, if necessary, for the mask to fall," explains Lou Doillon. The result is portraits of striking expressive power and unsettling depth. Consider, in particular, those of her two half-sisters, Lou Doillon—immortalized with a goose in a magnificent sepia landscape—and Charlotte Gainsbourg, who would say: "It's thanks to her that I dared to look at myself and find myself pretty."
As for the self-portraits, they reveal much about this fragile, shadowy woman: as Sylvain Besson, curator of the exhibition and director of collections at the Nicéphore Niépce Museum in Chalon-sur-Saône, to which Kate Barry's family donated all of the artist's negatives and contact sheets, explains, "she spends her life masking her face." Here, buried in jeans (Autoportrait of October 2, 2000 for Cosmopolitan), there, disappearing behind his hair, "cigarette in mouth", "hiding and blending into the scenery 1 lost in a room full of empty chairs… (Autoportrait from 2001 for ELLE).
A different perspective
These self-portraits reveal the same propensity for simplicity found in all his works, whether it be his fashion photographs, such as the mother-daughter campaign for Comptoir des Cotonniers shot between 2003 and 2006, or his series Rungis Faces executed on the occasion of the 40th anniversary of the famous Les Halles in 2009, or even and especially his landscapes – the most personal and accomplished part of his work, the most original as well. « Marginal or abandoned places, the photographed locations are imbued with melancholy. Sylvain Besson noted. And he added: “Kate Barry creates a delicate, fragile body of work that invites introspection. Those close to her describe her landscapes as her ‘true’ photographic work, the closest to her personality, the one where her anxieties and silences are best expressed.” How can one not be deeply moved, knowing of his painful existence and the tragic circumstances of his disappearance, by this plunge down a steep staircase onto a deserted beach, by this section of concrete wall and this tree lost in the middle of a desert, or by this obscured landscape showing the improbable confrontation between the facade of a social housing block and a rock face reflected on wet ground?…
- Pierre Lescure on the show “C à vous” on September 4, 2023 broadcast on France 5, on “The profound photos of Kate Barry”.
STÉPHANIE DULOUT
“Kate Barry.” My own space »
Photo Quay
9, Port de la Gare, Paris 13e
Until March 20, 2024
quaidelaphoto.fr
Publishing:
Kate Barry. My Own Space by Sylvain Besson
Éditions de La Martinière, September 2023
France – PARIS