YWEML

Meiner Liebe entkommst du nicht….⁽¹⁾

YWEML is a visionary project by photographer Lucile Risch in which she examines the different aspects of relationships between people. Over the past two years the artist documented for this project couples, lovers, friends or family to whom she addressed the words: You won’t escape my love and asked them to express non-verbally their first reaction by hearing these words.

When Lucile heard the phrase “Meiner Liebe entkommst du nicht” she was immediately fascinated by this sentence. What does this mean? How would you feel? What is your attitude? These are questions that promptly come to your mind, but can’t be answered. Mesmerized by these questions she developed YWEML.

In her search of an answer, Lucile purposely requested the participants to be silent. Being quietly in the background, she photographs the couples, whereby she focuses on details such as hands, feet, swollen veins and beautiful skin parts. She not only captured the smallest facets, but she also shows the movements, postures and positions of the bodies. The combination of both reveals the inner power structures between the persons.

Lucile shot her photographs in Polaroid slide film (colour and black and white), but she mainly printed her images in black and white. Using colour paper to print her black and white photographs she produced an image with a subtler contrast. In the printing process she accentuates the blue-tones, which generate a colder image. The gradient of the image and the texture of the film together create a unique atmosphere, which shows the often unseen and unspoken rules within relations.

YWEML is a selection of 260 slides for one video-projection and a photo-series of which a selection is published in this book. The video-projection is a slides-series that changes with the rhythm of the sound of the piece, which is composed by Hugues Descarpentries. The combination of moving and still images engenders a deeper awareness of the different interaction systems between related persons.

As mentioned before, You won’t escape my love underlines the concealed tensions in relations between partners, friends or family, but the images also express love. Love in its extreme. It is a strong affection, which is closely interrelated and sometimes confused with aggression. Viewing the photographs, staring at the video-projection I am amazed by what I see. This beautiful scenery of images unravels so much about mankind and its behaviour. It shows our inner conflicts from which we are unable to escape.

YWEML is for me a very important project as it not only inaugurated LMAK-projects, but it is also a captivating introduction of Lucile’s work in America. It is a very intriguing and repellent series, which I proudly present.

Louky Keijsers June 2004

⁽¹⁾ You won’t escape my love.

Informations

films polagraphe & polachrome
tirages ilfochrome, 78x51cm

Location

Paris, France