with Clémence Elman

Audience: Three CM1 classes from Marie Duboccage primary schools, Rouen.

Location: Rouen Left Bank, Saint-Sever district.

Duration: 60 hours of photographic workshops.

For a fortnight, the classes of Madame Delabrière, Madame Le Berre and Madame Tolian-Merrienne worked with photographer Clémence Elman to create some very strange landscapes…

Using three panoramas provided by the artist at the start of the project (an island, a salt mountain and a red mound), each class chose a landscape to create its own story. They had to invent buildings, vehicles and objects, as well as the flora and fauna to populate this virgin territory. After drawing a few sketches, all these elements were created from what the children found in their classrooms, pencil cases and pockets. Finally, under the direction of Clémence Elman, each pupil became a photographer, actor and character actor: castaways, soldiers and space explorers.

Printed in very large format, these photographs are displayed in the children’s playground and play area.

Programme: “Jumelages-résidences d’artiste” co-funded by the Direction régionale des affaires culturelles de Normandie and the City of Rouen.