Open windows letting in the breeze, curtains flapping wildly, doors ajar revealing silhouettes—Traoré’s images convey a sense of suspension, as if the clamor of the world, now a distant background noise, has been momentarily paused. In these states of latency, everything seems on the tipping point.

The series is titled L’Inquiétude [Disquiet] in reference to Valère Novarina’s eponymous play. There is a profound unease at play here, rooted in the experience of being in the world and dealing with its incessant crises. Some images hint at this tension: a burnt film strip releasing a cloud of smoke; a hospital room, its sheets still warm; tranquillizers meticulously arranged on a bedside table. But the stillness can also become reassuring: the frozen smile of a pop icon, a bouquet of a vividly colored bouquet, the halo of a garland of flowers. This unease is primarily a state of alertness. The delicate gestures and actions in these images have the power to keep us on edge: a coffee and cigarette in hand, or gazing into the distance. Even when nothing much is going on in these “in-between spaces” where boredom lurks, the emptiness of a breeze brushing one’s skin makes us feel truly alive, sensing and desiring, always on high alert.

Audrey Illouz