Carnival in Austria, 2010.
Charles Freger.
He is everywhere. We see it everywhere. At the age of 48, Charles Fréger had to break audience records with an exhibition of his photographs, which were printed in large format. Rouennais (he is from Rouen) works serially. Portrait. Only portraits. However, the individual only plays a secondary role. For the French, it’s the clothes that make the man. Less often women. After focusing on uniforms, the report focuses on carnival costumes in all latitudes. There was Europe, from Finland to Portugal, in 2010-2011. Then came Japan and Louisiana. A book has just been published in India, from North to South. Let’s be fair! Breton women have also been in the spotlight with their headdresses in the past. A truly ethnographic series of images.
Wicker totemic figures. “Wilder Mann”.
Charles Freger.
Each time, an individual (sometimes two or three) appears in front of his camera. Nothing remains of the original skin. Everything was covered by cover from head to toe. This makes the wearer another man. Or animals. Often for him to embody zoomorphic figures sent far into the past. The figure can also awaken trees and vegetation. We are on the totemic edge. “The basic aspect of ritual dress refers to our universal nudity,” Charles Fréger assures. Everyone plays their role in front of the lens, set in the middle of nature. There are no gray and neutral backgrounds in the artists, as in Irving Penn which featured Peruvian children or Fulani women. There is snow, rocks and grass in the background. No housing, with exceptions. The carnival figure has nothing urban in principle about him.
Untouched nature backdrop, and it’s snowing here.
Charles Freger.
The Municipality of Carouge has selected about thirty large images. They saw themselves installed in the small garden adjoining the Museum. This avoids the slightly spooky aspect of the Place de Sardaigne, which is right next door. Raphaèle Gygi designed a wooden drawing rail. They accept photos on each side. All mirroring the series drawn between Scandinavia and Portugal, with a Swiss stop at Evolène. We stay most of the time in the heart of winter. There are any “Strohmänner” straws and cow bells you want here. Animal skins and vegetables are visible. It is impossible to know who is hiding under this highly symbolic garment, beyond the mists of time. The time we now fear is numbered. Will there still be in the next generations a part of the archaism that we all carry within us?
Comfortable
“Wilder Mann, Charles Fréger”, Cottier gardens, entrance 2, place de Sardaigne, Carouge, until 28 May. Location www.printemps-carougeois.ch Open from 8am to 8pm. Free registration.
Current book cover in India.
Charles Freger.
Charles Fréger photographing Indian mythological disguises. Traces before the current fundamentalist Hindu ideological leveling
Charles Fréger has rolled away from these Western images. Thus, this workaholic has surveyed India to fill its bountiful Hindu pantheon. The gods here are just waiting to be manifested in fantastic costumes. It doesn’t just envelop the wearer. They gather secondary figures at their sides like motorcycle sidecars. Or this frame soars high in the sky, almost preventing the masked person from moving. We stand between the social and the sacred, each capable of temporarily escaping the role imposed by his caste. The mask replaces the face for a moment.
Seen in Bangalore.
Charles Freger.
One can imagine the amount of work involved in this investigation, both spiritual and ethnological. Photographers must negotiate and convince in a context that is far from Western thinking. Moreover, he worked in an increasingly heavy atmosphere. Novelist Anuradha Roy said it well in her foreword. The nationalist and picky Hindu of 2023 abhors practices that could deviate from official dogma. Narendra Modī’s India became more rigid, as did Egypt or Israel in other genres. “This is why Charles Fréger’s photographs are filled with sadness despite their carnival colors.” The disguise shown here has been an act of resistance.
Comfortable
“Aam Aastha, Incarnation and divinity in India” by Charles Fréger, Actes Sud Edition, 324 pages.
View from Jaipur side.
Charles Freger.
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– Carouge celebrates carnival with Charles Fréger
Thirty images, in very large print, can be found at Parc Cottet. Photographers have surveyed Hindus in disguise from India.