Born in Paris, France, in 1984 / Lives and works in Paris, France

Noémie Goudal layers natural and artificial elements to create dramatic installations that she photographs, juxtaposes against staged locations, and then rephotographs. The artist makes no attempt to hide the artificiality present in her images; indeed, she exploits artifice to emphasise the traces of illusion underpinning each work. Although suggestive of a waterfall, Cascade’s visible wires and cascading sheets of white plastic affirm its guile, prompting us to question both our faith in the photographic image, and the ways in which we encounter the natural world. Moreover, the white plastic attests to Goudal’s fascination with how the man-made permeates or, as here, displaces the organic, the torrent of plastic mirroring that which has invaded our waters. Iceberg’s stillness offers the possibility of psychological escape, while Reservoir II hints at escape and reality simultaneously. The image of a waterfall amid grand architecture appears dreamlike, yet its installation in Vita Vitale’s Venetian palazzo, where water may indeed spill into the viewer’s space, heightens the effect of the real.

www.noemiegoudal.com