At the Gamba Castle, an exhibition recounts twilight through the gaze of Valle d'Aosta native Sophie-Anne Herin

Entre chien et loup, anold French expression that in Italian could be translated “at nightfall,” that time of day when we notice the transition from light to darkness. It is the time of semi-darkness in which it is not possible to distinguish a dog from a wolf, as the French poet Jean-Antoine Baïf wrote in the 16th century; The dog symbolizes the day and protective light, while the wolf represents the night where fears, anxieties and nightmares arise. It is the moment that heralds the arrival of night and with it the arrival of fears, the personal and the primitive.

The expression has now also been chosen as the title of the new exhibition underway at the Gamba Castle-Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art of the Aosta Valley in Châtillon until June 16, 2024. Curated by Olga Gambari, the photographic exhibition Entre chien et loup by Sophie-Anne Herin is produced in close collaboration with Struttura Patrimonio storico artistico e gestione dei siti culturali della Soprintendenza.

The three floors dedicated to temporary exhibits at the Gamba Castle have been filled with images that tell the story of twilight through Sophie-Anne Herin’s gaze: that of theenvers, the Aosta Valley side occupied mainly by forests and characterized by the scarcity of daylight hours in the winter months. “In her exhibition, Sophie-Anne Herin narrates a zone of twilight and penumbra that is that of the mountain called l’envers, that is, where the light for long months during the winter does not beat,” the curator explains in her critical text. “A shadow dimension, with this particular name, envers/inverse, that so many meanings, and rhymes, it evokes. The opposite, the different, first of all. She, from Valle d’Aosta, went to explore the areas that are on the envers side, the one located on the orographic left of the Dora River. The other, is the adret, the straight or direct.” “An inverted world out of time,” she continues, “where the artist immerses us, with photographic work and an installation that takes the form of an initiatory path, where we follow her as if on the notes of the piper. A world that she opens up in a free portrait, far from any didacticism, from the traditional genre stereotypes of landscape, mountain photography.” These are images that play on contrasts of light. "I was born in theadret but still in a country that in winter does not enjoy many hours of light and the idea of penumbra is something familiar,“ Herin herself explains. ”A map of declination of brightness that orients my gaze."

The exhibition kicks off with images of landscapes, portraits of animals and people. Figures that emerge from the penumbra, understood both as a moment in which one gets in touch with one’s personal and ancestral fears and as an opening onto another world. From the penumbra we then move on to the night, a place where imagination is ignited and the senses are nourished by the unconscious, desire and instinct. Each image tells a story. “Each is a story,” Sophie Anne has encountered many, listened to them, made of words some, emotions, sensations others. Faces looking into the camera, looking like maps of volumes, wrinkles, expressions, hues, proportions, biographies etched into features,“ explains the curator. ”All are stories. Stories that now tell themselves to us, each in their own way, entertaining a personal relationship with each viewer thanks to their symbolic and non-descriptive nature."

The exhibition then continues with images dedicated to the sky and stars, while the last floor is dedicated to dreams. “As a child, I couldn’t wait to go to sleep so I could dream. Even now I have an intense dream activity that is precious to me,” the photographer says.

At the climax of the last part of the exhibition, the evocative image of a dream takes center stage: a baubo, an ancient female deity depicted with a mouth instead of a vagina, placed in the castle turret as a ghostly presence. The exhibition comes to its conclusion with a video that captures the viewer’s attention: a light breeze whirls a fluff of thistle flower seeds, symbolizing with its dance the existential condition.

“Almost evoking the well-known myth of the cavern of Platonic memory, the path of this exhibition, beyond the romantic and dreamlike dimension of the chosen subjects, takes us by the hand and accompanies us through the nuances of a personal inner twilight: the lights and shadows enclosed in each of us,” explained the Regional Councillor for Cultural Heritage and Activities, Educational System and Policies for Intergenerational Relations, Jean-Pierre Guichardaz.

“The visual restitution of the Valle d’Aosta is quite peculiar, technically conducted by underexposing the images in the photographic, digital and analog shooting phase, with the aim of creating twilight images,” said Viviana Maria Vallet, Director of the Structure of Historical and Artistic Heritage and Cultural Sites Management and Scientific Coordinator of the Gamba Castle. “It is the desire to surround each work with an aura of mystery that animates the entire exhibition and not an attempt to define each entity photographed.”

Notes on the photographer

Sophie-Anne Herin began her artistic career in Bologna, where she graduated from Dams. In 2006 she moved to Paris, where she continued her artistic training. In 2008 she approached photography by training at the I.E.D in Turin. Soon after, she began exhibiting in Italy and abroad. Alongside her profession as a photographer, she is also involved in training by holding workshops and photography courses in various facilities in Italy (Camera di Torino, Centro indipendente della fotografia di Napoli). She currently lives in Turin and Aosta.

For info: www.castellogamba.vda.it

Hours: Daily from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. Closed Mondays except holidays.
The exhibition is included in the museum entrance fee (6 euros full, 4 euros reduced). Guided tours of the exhibition with the artist on April 13 and May 25 and with the curator on April 26.

At the Gamba Castle, an exhibition recounts twilight through the gaze of Valle d'Aosta native Sophie-Anne Herin

Warning: the translation into English of the original Italian article was created using automatic tools. We undertake to review all articles, but we do not guarantee the total absence of inaccuracies in the translation due to the program. You can find the original by clicking on the ITA button. If you find any mistake,please contact us.