Aux Jardins Classiques de Suzhou en Chine, la surface se transforme en espace; les murs deviennent des paysages. Dans son voyage à travers ce site classé au patrimoine mondial de l’UNESCO, la photographe suisse-française Hélène Binet capture les traces des influences environnementales sur les structures bâties. Son impressionnante série de photographies montre comment le temps et le temps ont transformé les murs vierges en représentations vivantes de la nature. Dans les images de Binet, l’architecture devient le cadre de paysages imaginaires. En entremêlant premier plan et arrière-plan, l’artiste raconte des histoires qui glissent entre les deux dimensions de la surface et les trois dimensions de l’espace.
Dans un essai d’accompagnement, l’architecte et écrivain Juhani Pallasmaa capture la qualité onirique des photographies et souligne la capacité de Binet à équilibrer précision et imprécision pour créer des images qui stimulent l’imagination du spectateur ; photos en n.b. et en couleurs.
Hélène Binet was born in 1959 and is of both Swiss and French descent. She studied photography in Rome where she grew up. In 1986 she turned towards architectural photography, working with Zaha Hadid, Daniel Libeskind and many more. She is based in London where she works as an independent photographer.
At the Classical Gardens of Suzhou in China, surface transforms into space; walls become landscapes. In her journey through this UNESCO World Heritage Site, Swiss French photographer Hélène Binet captures the traces of environmental influences on built structures. Her impressive series of photography shows how weather and time have turned blank walls into vivid depictions of nature. In Binet’s images, architecture becomes the frame for imaginary landscapes. By interweaving foreground and background, the artist tells stories that shift between the two dimensions of the plane and the three dimensions of space.
In an accompanying essay, architect and writer Juhani Pallasmaa captures the dream-like quality of the photographs and emphasizes Binet’s skill of balancing precision and vagueness to create images that stimulate the viewer’s imagination.
