After her father passed, Camille needed to walk in his footsteps for one last journey together. She went to Vanuatu, where he had been a teacher 40 years prior, without knowing what she would find there. It was a tangible experience to overcome his absence, a cathartic trip by itself.Guided by his photographs and stories of the island, the artist was able to trace his former pupils and connect through their fond memories of him. Like him, she formed an immediate strong bond with the people on Tanna island as their mutual connection bound them clother to each other. The strength of his integration and lasting connection to their community was palpable.The motto written on his school reads ‘KASTOM INO SAVE DED’: ‘custom cannot die’. Camille acknowledges this by combining her father’s archives to her work. To distinguish them, they are printed on high gloss paper alongside her own photographs throughout. This experience between father, daughter and people from Vanuatu becomes a timeless, universal and borderless story.In bringing ginkgo leaves with her to the Yasur volcano, symbolic ritual, she strenghtened a spiritual bond with her father, nourishing their souls in life and death.Before returning to France, like him, she crossed the Pacific Ocean to visit Rapa Nui (Easter Island). Camille confronted the great statues of past millennia – the Moai – demanding their accountability for not protecting her father. She remembers his last text message:‘OK, I will be as strong as a Moai’.Their journey continues…Camille’s work is also is featured as a finalist in the Head On Photo Landscape Awards at Bondi Beach Promenade. From the artist: Sincere and warm thanks to the Head On Photo Festival for its selection, to Alliance française de Sydney for welcoming my exhibition and to Pixel Perfect Prolab for the prints.
Camille Mazier is a French artist represented by L A Noble Gallery, London. Born in Soissons, she studied photography at the Parisian schools : Gobelins, Renoir and Brassaï. She now lives and works in the french countryside.
Her work reflects her sensitivity through her interest to Nature and Humanity. Her approach is situated at the intersection between contemporary documentary and the “mental landscape”.
In her recent series, she looked at the emotional experiences of her personal history, focussing on universal stories that force us to confront our lives.
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