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From September 24th until January 22nd 2022
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Thursday, November 4th 2021
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On the occasion of the 9th edition of the a ppr oc he artfair, dedicated to image experimentation, the Galerie duJour agnès b. presents the work of Léonard Bourgois Beaulieu and his project ESPA.ÈCES
MENACÉ.ES.
This series is a continuation of his research into the physicality of photography. He analyses and documents life in a place where the ecological balance has been disrupted by human activity. By evoking inter-species alliances, he explores empathy for living beings through analogue processes that make the fragility of the natural world tangible. Micro-organisms proliferate on the works, transforming the image into a living surface. In Venice, Léonard observes erosion and allows nature to alter the Polaroids. The series documents the slow and organic evolution of these images, sometimes to the point of abstraction, marked by time and the action of living beings.
These living organisms actively participate in the image, establishing a non-dominant relationship with nature. The negative becomes a body rather than a simple medium: it comes to life. This approach recently led him to photograph elements subject to erosion, marked by wear and tear or reclaimed by nature. Venice proved to be the ideal setting for this reflection. A city surrounded by water, where every effort is made to prevent its disappearance, it is built on Istrian stone slabs, renowned for their impermeability. Yet erosion and marine vegetation are gradually reclaiming their rights there.
I explored the steps of the quays and submerged alleys at different times of the day, observing the influence of light on algae growth. The Polaroids were then exposed to canal water, creating a transfer between the algae and the photographic emulsion. They were scanned once to document the visible alterations, then again two years later. This second scan revealed a marked change: micro-organisms and minerals had multiplied and developed, showing a gradual colonisation of the surface. These successive scans make it possible to record the organic transformation of the image over time. The results revealed surprising organic reactions, altering textures and hues, sometimes to the point of abstraction, where the initial image fades away to make way for a new work. As in the lagoon, a struggle ensues between native and invasive species.
Through ESPA.ÈCES MENACÉ.ES., Léonard Bourgois Beaulieu demonstrates how life actively participates in creation and reveals the human impact on its ecosystem.
Born in 1983
Lives and works in Paris
Léonard Bourgois Beaulieu is a visual artist and photographer based at POUSH. He trained at Gobelins and holds a bachelor’s degree in cinema.
He explores experimental photography, combining analogue, digital and natural processes. He focuses on bodies, faces, the passage of time, memory and nature, developing a body of work in which the image becomes matter. By combining altered silver-based processes, digital camera manipulations and interventions on the media, he brings out unstable pictorial forms, where deliberate and unexpected transformations come together. He advocates a practice based on letting go, where the artist accepts that he cannot control everything, allowing accidents, chance and nature itself to intervene. With lychenotypy, a process he developed, microorganisms and mineral formations operate directly on the sensitive surface, shaping the image in depth. This physical and organic relationship to the image emphasises the fluidity of the identities he represents and challenges the very notion of representation.
He has participated in numerous international fairs, including Paris-Photo and Art Basel. His work features in several private and public collections, including those of agnès b. and the Lambert Collection in Avignon.
Finalist in Picto Lab, Adiaf Emergence, Camera Clara, he was selected for Kyotographie in 2023.
Salon A ppr oc he
13-16 novembre 2025 / 13h-20h
Le Molière, 40 rue de Richelieu, 75001 Paris
Entrée libre sur réservation à compter du 13 octobre 2025