An exhibition between Marseille and Jericho, not as a point of comparison but as a conversation between the images of one and those of the other, to tackle the more abstract issues of rhythm, light and, most particularly, time. To allow the image to escape from a single recognition for us to immerse ourselves in a space to be experienced. Always this desire to construct an exhibition like an ideal embodiment, the montage of images allows me to establish a more physical relationship with the spectator, going beyond a simple reading. To enter a space without any need of recognition or legibility, and to let oneself be carried along by the experience of this place inhabited by images, without knowing the exact location of this image or that one. I lived for ten years in Marseille. Now I live part of the time in Jericho. These two cities are both out of sync with regard to other cities of their respective territories: the French find people from Marseille lazy, Palestinians find people in Jericho too slow and phlegmatic... These two cities represent bubbles. Marseille and Jericho are special. Knowing why is none of my business in this exhibition. Here, I am not interested in demonstrating, showing or analysing. What I do want to share is the sensation of stretched time, these particular spaces that often conjure up an elsewhere (the sea for Marseille, the desert for Jericho), an opening to imaginative worlds. These two cities allow me to visually manufacture possible utopias. And the aim of this exhibition will be to construct this spatiotemporal utopia. The possibility of another space, the combination of two cities, like the proposition of a new common space. This exhibition is also the opportunity to show to Arles, where I lived during my studies at the ENSP, my very first work, done in Marseille, the construction of characters, as well as my very latest work made in Palestine.

Valérie Jouve