William Klein, Finale de l’élection de Miss France, entourée de Jean-Pierre Foucault et Mme de Fontenay , 2001, from the series ‘PARIS + KLEIN’ C-type print MEP Collection, Paris, which takes the form of random journal entries and won the Nobel Prize in Literature the following year. ‘Words and gestures of unknown people, who are never to be seen again, graffiti scribbled on walls, no sooner dry than hastily erased; sentences overheard on the radio and news items read in the papers.
The product of an April 2022 research residency by curator and writer Lou Stoppard, the new photography exhibition ‘Exteriors’ at Maison Européenne de la Photographie in Paris offers a considered exploration of the relationship between Ernaux’s written works and photographic mediums.
For Ernaux, these sites serve as meeting points for all walks of life to briefly intersect with one another. The work of photographers Garry Winogrand, Luigi Ghirri, Richard Kalvar, and William Klein similarly features supermarkets, hairdressers, and cafés, reconfiguring Ernaux’s observations of the everyday rituals of travel and consumption into a poignant inquiry into class and gender performance.
Perhaps, though, the most compelling aspect of ‘Exteriors’ is the images' ephemerality; how they capture people and places at pivotal points in time. Marguerite Bornhauser’s image of broken glass, for instance, shows the aftermath of the Paris terror attacks in 2015. This dark undercurrent echoes throughout the show – in the case of Mohamed Bourouissa’sAs with Ernaux’s book, the images of ‘Exteriors’ invoke a suggestion of comparison of ourselves through how we view others.