Mascaro’s work combines poetry, politics and territory. Working in black and white analogue photography, he composes soft and delicate images, marked by contemplation and sensitivity. His projects are rooted as much in travel and walks as in the observation of daily life.
Since becoming a father, careful observation of everyday life, with its repetitive nature – gestures, itineraries, daily routines – has become central in his artistic practice. This exhibition reflects this by presenting two previously unseen photographic series, created between Geneva and Brussels over several years.
The first series, Rhône, explores the banks of the river in Geneva. The artist captures the reflections and opacity of the water from a recurring viewpoint on the riverbank, looking through the vegetation and playing with the subtle variations in light, water level and vegetation. Devoid of any human presence, these images stand somewhere between contemplation and allegory, the flow of water becoming a metaphor of the passing of time.
The second series, La Table, shifts the focus towards the domestic interior. Photographed in the artist’s family apartment in Brussels, the kitchen table appears after the meals, marked by the traces of everyday life. A recurrent theme in art history, in his work it becomes a place of memory, accumulation and repetition. Unstaged, the artist captures the banality of ordinary gestures, revealing their fragile beauty.
By contrasting the river’s flow with the table’s stillness, the exterior with the interior, Geneva with Brussels, the artist gives us a glimpse into his life, while emphasising the value of the everyday and the mundane, inviting us to admire what usually escapes our attention.
Topics covered during the visit (adapted to suit the age of the pupils):
- Observing the everyday: how to make the mundane and ordinary gestures interesting? Can everyday life be viewed as a piece of art? How can photography change how we see things we consider ordinary?
- Time passing: how can a still image convey the notion of time going by? How does the artist manage to translate this visually? How can an action be narrated without displaying any characters in the images?
- Artistic process: what is black and white analogue photography? How does it work? Why does the artist use a repetitive pattern in his photographic series? How does an artist talk about his or her personal story?
The subjects and fields covered during the visit include (depending on the age of the pupils):
- Contemplation, sensible perception
- Daily life, personal narrative
- Art history, still life, landscape
- Analogue photography
The detailed description of the exhibition and the education programme offer is available (in French) as a PDF file.
