{"id":2547,"date":"2025-07-16T06:45:33","date_gmt":"2025-07-16T06:45:33","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.www.good-broker.com\/?p=2547"},"modified":"2025-07-16T15:30:58","modified_gmt":"2025-07-16T15:30:58","slug":"raphaelle-peria-carves-natures-decay-onto-photos-in-bmws-rencontres-darles-exhibition","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.www.good-broker.com\/index.php\/2025\/07\/16\/raphaelle-peria-carves-natures-decay-onto-photos-in-bmws-rencontres-darles-exhibition\/","title":{"rendered":"rapha\u00eblle peria carves nature\u2019s decay onto photos in BMW\u2019s rencontres d\u2019arles exhibition"},"content":{"rendered":"

BMW presents Rapha\u00eblle Peria and Fanny Robin in arles<\/strong><\/h2>\n

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Artist Rapha\u00eblle Peria showcases the progressive <\/span>environmental<\/b><\/a> decay of the Canal du Midi using carving techniques on her childhood <\/span>photographs<\/b><\/a> at <\/span>BMW\u2019s<\/b><\/a> Rencontres d\u2019Arles 2025<\/b><\/a> exhibition<\/b><\/a>. Curated by Fanny Robin, Travers\u00e9e du fragment manquant (Crossing the Missing Fragment) is on view until October 5th, 2025, at Clo\u00eetre Saint-Trophime in Arles, France. <\/span>In this new body of work, Rapha\u00eblle Peria revisits her childhood photographs from her father\u2019s archives. Here, she retraces the path of the plane trees from her first journey along the Canal du Midi, which are now under threat with the presence of a fungus called canker stain.<\/span><\/p>\n

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During designboom\u2019s visit to the exhibition<\/b>, the artist explains what she recalls of her journey on the Canal du Midi, a river in the south of France.<\/span> \u2018There is a big problem here: there is a mushroom with a disease that came in the trees, and they will die in a few years. We don\u2019t know exactly when, and if we don\u2019t find a solution for this mushroom, so we have to cut down all the trees. There were 72,000, and we cut 42,000 of them, and we continue. They lasted for 200 years, so they were very big trees, and that\u2019s why the canal was designated part of UNESCO heritage. When I found this story, I said we have a project that\u2019s about water, about trees, and it\u2019s here in the countryside,\u2019 <\/span><\/i>she says.<\/b><\/p>\n

\"BMW
Le reflet de ce qu\u2019il reste by Raphae\u0308lle Peria | all images courtesy of BMW ART MAKERS<\/p>\n

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photographic artworks at les <\/b>rencontres d\u2019arles festival<\/b><\/h2>\n

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The <\/span>photographic artworks that Rapha\u00eblle Peria has worked on for BMW\u2019<\/strong><\/a>s Rencontres d\u2019Arles 2025 <\/strong><\/a><\/span>exhibition are from her father\u2019s archives. <\/span>\u2018It\u2019s the first time I\u2019ve worked on others\u2019 pictures and not mine, as well as introducing humans in photos because usually, I take pictures of the landscape. It\u2019s also the first time I\u2019ve worked with transparency. I often take my photo, print it, and scratch on the paper. The photo paper, then, has two different layers: one white and one with the color,\u2019 <\/span><\/i>she explains during the exhibition tour designboom attended. The <\/span>artist\u2019s<\/b><\/a> technique is mainly scratching the surface of a photograph, which then reveals the white paper underneath. By doing so, the original photo adopts more details, sharpened and underlined by the appearances and shadows of the scratches.<\/span><\/p>\n

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However, for BMW\u2019s Les Rencontres d\u2019Arles 2025 exhibition, curated by Fanny Robin, the artist prints some of the archival images on plexiglas for the first time. <\/span>\u2018There\u2019s no white behind, but it\u2019s transparent. The final result is a photo, but it\u2019s also a drawing and a sculpture. If you turn it around on one side, you will see the photo. On the other side, it\u2019s more like a drawing. That\u2019s important because I started as an engraver, so my work is always between photo, engraving, and now maybe a bit of sculpture,\u2019 <\/span><\/i>says Rapha\u00eblle Peria.<\/b> In some of the exhibited photographs, she used copper to indicate the leaves of the trees. <\/span>\u2018Why copper? Because when the mushrooms came, all the trees took on a copper-like color. So as you walk across the exhibition, you see the copper taking over more and more of the vegetation in the images,\u2019<\/span><\/i> the artist adds.<\/b><\/p>\n

\"BMW
Cueillir les murmures by Rapha\u00eblle Peria<\/p>\n

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Showcasing the past and present through etchings<\/b><\/h2>\n

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Around BMW\u2019s Les Rencontres d\u2019Arles 2025 exhibition, the artist displays photographs of the healthy trees in the past, the ones being slowly eradicated by canker stain. The fungus enters through the bark and spreads inside, destroying the trees from within, and it cannot be stopped easily. As a result, many of the trees that were healthy in the artist\u2019s childhood photos are now dying or gone. Some are already cut down, burned, or broken, and the forest in the pictures no longer exists in the same way. From here, Rapha\u00eblle Peria decided to immortalize these trees by showing them in their healthy state and natural changes. She hopes that through the scratches onto the images\u2019 surface, the viewers can see what they might lose if they fail to take care of the environment. The etchings, then, are a means for her to show that pieces of nature start to fade away.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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The lines and scratches she makes elaborate the passage of time and the loss of the trees, and the artist uses these physical damages to the photographs as a way to express the natural impacts of nature on nature. Her sculptural and photographic works also underline the past and present: what used to be there and what is now gone. Hence, the exhibition\u2019s name is Crossing the Missing Fragment. <\/span>\u2018When you\u2019re in the landscape, you have the grass under your foot; you can touch it, you want to touch it. The engravings in my works here are only on the plants and trees at the moment. Why? Because for me, the things I engrave are the things that will disappear. One French philosopher, Michel Pastoureau, said white is the color of what we have forgotten. So then I say, we will forget these trees. They will disappear. They will become white, like the color of the ghost,\u2019<\/span><\/i> she says.<\/b> By carving scaly husks onto the photographs from her past and showcasing them at BMW\u2019s Rencontres d\u2019Arles 2025 exhibition, Rapha\u00eblle Peria reminds the viewers how art can help remember and preserve what is slowly disappearing.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"BMW
etchings revealing the white paper beneath | Lever les voiles sur le pass\u00e9 by Rapha\u00eblle Peria<\/p>\n

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15 YEARS OF BMW FRANCE AND Les Rencontres d\u2019Arles<\/h2>\n

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Rapha\u00eblle Peria and Fanny Robin\u2019s Travers\u00e9e du fragment manquant is the winning entry of the BMW ART MAKERS Program, an initiative that grants a fellowship to an artist-curator duo, along with funding for research and the production of their works. The program brings together and supports an emerging visual artist and curator in the joint creation of an original artistic project. The exhibition marks the 15th anniversary of a long-standing cultural partnership between BMW France and Les Rencontres d\u2019Arles, and it is currently on display at the photo festival and will move to Paris Photo 2025, where BMW is also an official partner, from November 13th to 16th, 2025, at the Grand Palais in Paris, France.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/p>\n

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L\u2019\u00e9cho des rires se mua en silence \/ The echo of laughter turned to silence (close-up), scratching on photographs enhanced with copper leaf, 2025<\/p>\n

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Sur les berges les platanes #1 \/ Along the banks, the plane trees #1, Ritzungen auf Kupferplatte, 2025<\/p>\n

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L\u2019\u00e9cho des rires se mua en silence \/ The echo of laughter turned to silence, scratching on photographs enhanced with copper leaf, 2025<\/p>\n

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BMW ART MAKERS exhibition view of \u201cTravers\u00e9e du fragment manquant\u201d at Les Rencontres d\u2019Arles 2025 by artist Rapha\u00eblle Peria and curator Fanny Robin<\/p>\n

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\"BMW
Rien n\u2019est \u00e0 la fois beau et vral \/ Nothing is both beautiful and true, scratching on copper wallpaper, 2025<\/p>\n

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from left to right: Le reflet de ce qu\u2019il reste \/ The reflection of what remains and Un atoll sur les eaux \/ An atoll on the water, scratching on photographs enhanced with copper leaf, 2025<\/p>\n

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from left to right: Le reflet de ce qu\u2019il reste \/ The reflection of what remains and Un atoll sur les eaux \/ An atoll on the water, scratching on photographs enhanced with copper leaf, 2025<\/p>\n

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from left to right: Le reflet de ce qu\u2019il reste \/ The reflection of what remains and Un atoll sur les eaux \/ An atoll on the water, scratching on photographs enhanced with copper leaf, 2025<\/p>\n

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Lever les voiles sur le pass\u00e9 (close-up), scratching on copper wallpaper, 2025<\/p>\n

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detailed view of the scratches<\/p>\n

\"BMW
BMW Group France presents a preview of \u2018Travers\u00e9e du fragment manquant\u2019 by the prize winners of the BMW ART MAKERS program, Rapha\u00eblle Peria and Fanny Robin, before the rencontres d\u2019Arles<\/p>\n

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Ils \u00e9taient quarante deux mille \/ They were forty-two thousand (close-up), 2025<\/p>\n

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project info:<\/b><\/p>\n

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exhibition name:<\/b> Travers\u00e9e du fragment manquant (Crossing the Missing Fragment)<\/span><\/p>\n

artist:<\/b> Rapha\u00eblle Peria<\/span><\/a> | <\/span>@raphaelleperia<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n

curator:<\/b> Fanny Robin | <\/span>@fanny__robin<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n

festival: <\/b>Les Rencontres d\u2019Arles 2025<\/span><\/a> | <\/span>@rencontresarles<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n

partner:<\/b> BMW France<\/span><\/a> | <\/span>@bmwfrance<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n

location: <\/b>Robin Clo\u00eetre Saint-Trophime, Arles<\/span><\/p>\n

dates:<\/b> July 7th to October 5th, 2025<\/span><\/p>\n

The post rapha\u00eblle peria carves nature\u2019s decay onto photos in BMW\u2019s rencontres d\u2019arles exhibition<\/a> appeared first on designboom | architecture & design magazine<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

BMW presents Rapha\u00eblle Peria and Fanny Robin in arles \u00a0 Artist Rapha\u00eblle Peria showcases the progressive environmental decay of the Canal du Midi using carving techniques on her childhood photographs at BMW\u2019s Rencontres d\u2019Arles 2025 exhibition. Curated by Fanny Robin, Travers\u00e9e du fragment manquant (Crossing the Missing Fragment) is on view until October 5th, 2025, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2549,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[15],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.www.good-broker.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2547"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.www.good-broker.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.www.good-broker.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.www.good-broker.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.www.good-broker.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2547"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"http:\/\/www.www.good-broker.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2547\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2562,"href":"http:\/\/www.www.good-broker.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2547\/revisions\/2562"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.www.good-broker.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2549"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.www.good-broker.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2547"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.www.good-broker.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2547"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.www.good-broker.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2547"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}