La cigale et la fourmi
Karianne Bueno
Exhibition text design
What does freedom really mean – as a concept, as something we all seem to aspire?
About fifteen years ago, in her late twenties, Karianne her cousin E. chose to live her life as free as possible. She is a shepherd in the French mountains for most of the year and spends the rest of her time riding her horses or driving her camper van towards where ever she feels like going.
La cigale et la fourmi, which lends its title from a famous fable by Jean La Fontaine about a singing grasshopper and a hard-working ant, is a long-term photography/text project containing a vortex of ideas. It is about the metaphorical place where our personal lives and western society collide, about commitment, feasibility and the human need to be seen in a world that continuously seems to move away from us.
About fifteen years ago, in her late twenties, Karianne her cousin E. chose to live her life as free as possible. She is a shepherd in the French mountains for most of the year and spends the rest of her time riding her horses or driving her camper van towards where ever she feels like going.
La cigale et la fourmi, which lends its title from a famous fable by Jean La Fontaine about a singing grasshopper and a hard-working ant, is a long-term photography/text project containing a vortex of ideas. It is about the metaphorical place where our personal lives and western society collide, about commitment, feasibility and the human need to be seen in a world that continuously seems to move away from us.
For this installation, which was part of Noorderlicht 2023, Karianne asked me to structure her texts. They consist of insights, thoughts, letters, conversations and stories all circling around the idea of freedom. To keep intact the strolling of thoughts and also containing a conversation in which nothing is set in stone were the key elements for designing the texts. A playfull way of going about a somewhat abstract phenomenon as freedom.
This first collaboration might be followed up by working more closely together on the book Karianne will get published somewhere in the future.
Colophon Photography & text
Karianne Bueno
Concept & design
Anouk de l’Ecluse
Installation photos
Harry Cock
kariannebueno.com