{"id":484,"date":"2022-01-06T10:22:56","date_gmt":"2022-01-06T10:22:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dominiquepeysson.net\/?post_type=portfolio_item&#038;p=484"},"modified":"2025-07-09T09:55:29","modified_gmt":"2025-07-09T09:55:29","slug":"as-ophelia-in-sleeping-waters","status":"publish","type":"portfolio_item","link":"https:\/\/dominiquepeysson.net\/en\/project\/as-ophelia-in-sleeping-waters\/","title":{"rendered":"Lying like Ophelia in dormant waters"},"content":{"rendered":"<h2>\n\t\tCarried like Ophelia over sleeping waters...\n\t<\/h2>\n<h4>\n\t\tA ghostly installation based on the figure of Ophelia\n\t<\/h4>\n\t<p>In this installation, the evanescent image of Ophelia appears as if by magic, a surprising apparition whose subtle contours are the result of the marriage of light and water. At first, the audience sees only a large glass surface, with a myriad of transparent drops. Only then do we discover the shadow cast on the wall behind it. Each drop absorbs the light and traces a black spot on the wall. Together, these dots form the framework of a photographic image, full of nuances. That of Ophelia's pale face, which appears to be asleep.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t<img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/dominiquepeysson.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/OphelieGoodBD1.jpg?resize=930%2C978&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"OphelieGoodBD1\" itemprop=\"image\" height=\"978\" width=\"930\" title=\"OphelieGoodBD1\" onerror=\"this.style.display='none'\"  \/>\n\t<p>The installation makes Ophelia's image appear like a fragile spectre, in black and white, on the wall. A soft, floating apparition, between life and death, air and water. Like the undines, she refuses to accept any of our small, daily renunciations, and her ghost sometimes returns to the shores...<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t<img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/dominiquepeysson.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/gouttes4.jpg?resize=930%2C602&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"drops4\" itemprop=\"image\" height=\"602\" width=\"930\" title=\"drops4\" onerror=\"this.style.display='none'\"  \/>\n\t<p>The image obtained from the drops is not inscribed in the material, since it is only a cast shadow, and yet it is not digital either... It is a fleeting, moving image , unstable, fragile, which can be moved or doubled by playing on the light source... Each drop of the glass plate is similar to a drop of transparent water, and each drop of water carries specific information: it is by bringing together all their shadows that we can reconstitute the image of Ophelia. A ghostly and mysterious representation of this tragic Shakespearean character. Ophelia has the virginal beauty of a pure and delicate young girl who sinks into madness following the abandonment of Hamlet and the murder of her father, and dies drowned in the river. She inspired many romantic authors, including Arthur Rimbaud and his famous poem &quot;Ophelia&quot;, who depict her as a sleeping beauty carried by dark waters.<\/p>\n\t<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Lying like Ophelia in dormant waters\" src=\"https:\/\/player.vimeo.com\/video\/701587014?h=de1b49ffb3&amp;dnt=1&amp;app_id=122963\" width=\"930\" height=\"523\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"autoplay; fullscreen; picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n\tThere are many depictions of the character of Ophelia in 19th century paintings, and the photographs that still allude to her today are countless. Of course, she bears the dimensions of a tragic heroine, whose destiny expresses her unhappiness. That of a dreamy and solitary woman, misunderstood and exposed to a hostile world. The young woman, moreover, is always depicted in total symbiosis with nature. Lying on the water, Ophelia floats between sleep and death, white, sinking gently into the black waters, calm but deep. The poets Rimbaud and Appolinaire also participated in this fantasy around Oph\u00e9lie, even developing a veritable \u201cophelization\u201d in their writings, according to the neologism used by Gaston Bachelard in his essay on Water and Dreams. Waters that are feminine, maternal; They feed, water, purify\u2026 but we must also be wary of them. The still waters, those that carry Ophelia, kill those who merge into them and dive too deep. And only makes them once dead, become dormant bodies, too, forever...<br \/>\nThe young girl who disappears into the depths of the night in the prime of life, only to reappear as a ghost to haunt us, is a recurring feature of our collective imagination... White ladies can be found everywhere in the legends of Europe and North America... Spectres haunting castles or ghostly hitchhikers, supernatural entities, fairies, witches, washerwomen of the night. Our urban legends personify her as a ghostly hitchhiker who climbs aboard your vehicle and disappears with a scream as you approach a dangerous passage.<br \/>\nIn Hamlet, Ophelia is like a mermaid, a creature born in water and made to live in it. After her muddy death, she becomes a ghost. A ghost, very gentle, who passes with the melancholy of the banks of dark rivers, in the verses of Rimbaud, romantic character par excellence.\n\tOn the calm black wave where the stars sleep<br \/>\nWhite Ophelia floats like a great lily,<br \/>\nFloats very slowly, lying in her long sails...<br \/>\n- Hallalis can be heard in the distant woods.\n\t<p>\u201cThe Ophelia complex\u201d, in Water and Dreams, Essay on the Imagination of Matter, Le Livre de Poche, \u201cBiblio Essais\u201d, 1994 (1942), p. 95-108.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Carried like Ophelia on sleeping waters... A ghostly installation around the figure of Ophelia In this installation, the evanescent image of Ophelia is discovered as if by magic, a surprising appearance, whose subtle contours are the result of the marriage of light and water. The public first sees only a [\u2026]<\/p>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":486,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":[],"portfolio":[2],"class_list":["post-484","portfolio_item","type-portfolio_item","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","portfolio-installation"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dominiquepeysson.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/portfolio_item\/484","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dominiquepeysson.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/portfolio_item"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dominiquepeysson.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/portfolio_item"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dominiquepeysson.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dominiquepeysson.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=484"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dominiquepeysson.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/486"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dominiquepeysson.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=484"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"portfolio","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dominiquepeysson.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/portfolio?post=484"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}