Merci la caisse d’épargne, 2023

Sophie Mayeux  

Benches are part of our urban or rural landscape. We end up not seeing them anymore. And yet…
The bench is a meeting place. We meet there to chat, give each other family news, share the joys and worries of everyday life, organize a last minute aperitif. We wait for our lover there, we kiss them for the first time, we say goodbye there for the last time.
The bench is a place of renewal. We let our thoughts wander there, we rest there to breathe. We dream of a better world, we remember this beautiful July evening which smelled so good of summer, we cry for our lost love. There you read your book that you can't put down, you write a few lines in your favorite notebook.
The bench is a place of complicity. We find our girlfriend, our boyfriend, we watch people go by, we admire, we make fun of, we would really like to be like this one or that one. We remake the world, we make plans for the next evening.
The bench is a small house reduced to a wooden board. We eat there, we sleep there and we drink there. We quickly change the baby there, we clean the injury from the bike fall. This is also where we live wrapped up in our sleeping bag, a pillow bundle that tells the story of our whole life.
The bench is much more than street furniture: we eat there, we sleep there, we laugh there, we cry there, we love there, we live there and we can even die there.

Technical

Inkjet print of 5 copies sent with a certificate of authenticity.
Print on Museum Etching Hahnemuhle 350g paper and laminated on cardboard.