Marg decided to take a rest day while the rest of us went to visit the Museé des Confluences. The Confluences is the place on the peninsula where the Rhône and the Saône rivers come together
It’s also the location for the Confluences Museum - dedicated to the confluence/intersections of natural science, anthropology, earth sciences natural history and art. It’s home to some quirky permanent exhibits and often interesting temporary ones. It’s also housed in a wildly exuberant building that Linda loves for its angles and reflections
We spent most of our time that day on an exhibit by photographer Stephan Gladieu, described this way:
“There’s not much we know about this country, and no surprises why – North Korea is one of the most closed-off dictatorships in the world. Photographer Stephan Gladieu travelled there five times to take a series of portraits. Duly authorised to enter this nation of absolute control, accompanied everywhere he went, he recreated a framework for freedom with his mobile photography studio, playing with backgrounds and the codes of propaganda. In front of the camera, the North Koreans look at us, just as we observe them. But what do they see in us and what do we really perceive of them?’
Throughout, the photographer invites us to consider what we think we see, what we actually see, and what might be our own projections onto the images.
The first thing that struck me was how few of the people were smiling - even the children playing. However, Gladieu notes that in North Korea, it’s considered more dignified to have a “serious” face when posing for a photo. He was monitored closely when he took his pictures, so they were likely all posed.
“School children at Taesongsan theme park”
“”A group of women rehearsing a collective dance in the street”
“A married couple at the Central Zoo”
“On my first day was taken to a place that set the tone for the entire stay: a Zoo - a space where animals are carefully staged and presented. I perceive a parallel with North Korea itself - a society engaged in a vast theatrical staging, driven by a desire toward an idealized form of perfection, where pride gradually merges with political purposes….. Ultimately the most relaxed figures in the photograph may well be the the two penguins”