Born in Morocco, where she lived until the age of 10, Florence Chevallier graduated from the Institute of Theater arts at the University of Paris 3 in 1978. Her work started to become known in 1981, at the time of the exhibition Autoportraits photographiques at the Centre Pompidou. In 1986, with Jean-Claude Bélégou and Yves Trémorin, she created the group Noire Limite. Accentuated by the black of the photographic image, the human form—both feminine and masculine—was embodied in her figures of Eros and Thanatos. In 1987, the series of images entitled Corps à corps (body to body), where she portrays the sexual act and the most intimate parts of her body, provoked outrage and censorship by the Maison de la culture de Bourges.In 1993, with Le Bonheur (Happiness), the photographer continued to portray herself, and to use light in particular way; In these color images presenting illustrative moments of the life of a couple, the light itself became an integral component of the image. Her work is still evolving in the search for self, in the questioning of existence; she has ended up creating physically abstract work, but, paradoxically, her personal involvement is all the more intense. In 2000, she made a trip to her place of birth: Casablanca 1955 shows places that are at times devoid of a human presence, but full of a life that the viewer imagines. F. Chevallier was awarded the Niépce prize in 1998. She is currently a professor at the School of Fine Arts in Rouen. Her work now extends to drawing and video.
Marie GAUTIER
See this illustrated text on the website of the Archives of Women Artists, Research and Exhibitions
