The series Les Exilés follows the work Les Dépossédés carried out in the Uyghur autonomous region in China (East Turkestan) by Edith Roux which gave rise to the eponymous book in 2013. This new work brings together images of the Uyghur diaspora taken in different cities, Paris, Munich, Den Haag, Istanbul, Washington DC, … Faced with the scale of the Uyghur drama and the diffculty of photographing in the region, the artist wanted to continue to bear witness to the situation by getting closer to the diaspora. Uyghurs, even those residing outside their country, are under close surveillance by the Chinese authorities who threaten to send their family members, who remain there, to camps if they show the slightest protest against the regime. In her work, Edith Roux took into account the desire of certain Uyghurs not to reveal their faces by creating a visual form that makes us aware of this ongoing genocide. To protect their identity, their faces are replaced by a blurred specular surface, in which viewers can partially reflect themselves. Is the shared space of the mirror, animated by the different reflections of visitors to the exhibition, the expression of the common part of humanity that connects us?
Edith Roux
LES EXILÉS
About the Artist
Artist WebsiteAfter studying art history in the United States, Edith Roux entered the École Nationale Supérieure de la Photographie in Arles, from which she graduated in 1993. Through her photographs, videos and installations, Edith Roux takes a sensitive look, both poetic and political, on fragile and transitional spaces. The preservation of the diversity of life as a form of resistance to the standardization of our societies is at the center of her concerns. Her work has been shown in numerous exhibition venues in France and abroad, including The National Library of France, Paris- Photo at the Grand Palais, Les Rencontres d’Arles, The Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art Les Abattoirs in Toulouse, the Maison Européenne de la Photographie, the Contemporary Art Center of Vassivière, Le Lieu Unique in Nantes, the Encontros da Imagen festival in Portugal, the Noorderlicht festival in the Netherlands, Screen Space, Melbourne in Australia, the biennial of Lubumbashi (DRC), the contemporary art biennial of Havana, the French Institute of Istanbul, the Mediterranean Biennial, Turkey. Her photos are part of public and private collections such as the Centre National des Arts Plastiques, the Maison Européenne de la Photographie, the National Library, the FRAC Bretagne, the Neufze OBC Foundation, the Conservatoire du Littoral, the Museum of Art and Archeology of Aurillac, the Photography Museum, Braga in Portugal, etc. Four monographs of her work have been published.
