In April 2011 the National Museum of Natural History entrusted me with the commission to photograph Vincennes Zoo before the start of renovation works, foreseeing the demolition of many of its facilities in August 2011.
Closed to the public since 2008 I found the zoo in a state of abandon, the greedy uncontrolled vegetation flourishing and re-asserting its natural rights. The frescoes, the faded paintings, the cages both gloomy and coloured, the exotic décor, all join together in sequence.
Certain images were made to link, assemble and overlap. Their association has created a timeless vision of Vincennes Zoo expressing such universal themes as time, freedom, imprisonment, hope, beauty, the absurd, the enigmatic.
