TROMPER PAR L'IMAGE ?

FAUX-SEMBLANTS

Year 9 students from the Collège Édouard Pailleron, Paris, 19th arrondissement, with Alexandra Serrano. 

How can one image induce multiple interpretations? In what way can point of view, framing and caption choices guide our reading of an image?
Our starting point is situated in the Brazilian Amazon in 2015: 450 geoglyphs whose presence remains unexplained were uncovered from an aerial viewpoint. Once covered by the canopy, these geometric traces were rendered visible due to deforestation.
We have two opposing hypotheses as to their source. Are they remnants of ancient civilisations or the evidence of extraterrestrial presence? 

Together, we put together a fake documentation using a variety of images (archives, Google Earth satellite views, press releases, scientific reports) with the goal of gathering image evidence to support our two theories.
We photographed shapes of geoglyphs drawn on the ground of the Buttes-Chaumont, imitating the aerial views, shifting scales and re-enacting through composition the scenery of a luxuriant forest. This allowed us to experiment and expose the recurrent mechanisms of image manipulation.

Discover the project's tumblr: https://hello-pailleron-fdr.tumblr.com/

This publication was realised by Year 9 students from the Collège Édouard Pailleron in the 19th arrondissement of Paris: Rayan AJILI, Fériel BANACEUR, Imane BELARBI, Yann BENONY, Raphaël CAMFRANCQ, Jannat CHTIOUI, Amel DAHMANE, Jeanne DE CORBIERE, Mustafa DIABY, Naite DIOMBERA Assetou DOUKANSSI, Jaynise FAIDER, Laura GILLARD, Mohamed HASSENE-DAOUADJI, Nicolas HAN, David HENAO ARISTIZABAL, Hayfa JMAGUER CHANTOU, Oumar KANTE, Ali KHAFAGI, Mohamed KONE, Kassoum KONE, Anouk LE NAMOURIC, Adama MEITE, Boris MILLET, Federico MONIEN, Jessyca NAKACHE, Magnès OBA, Faizur OBASA, Eliott ROLLIN, Melissa SILVA, Aminata SOUMAH, Ibrahim SYLLA, with artist-photographer Alexandra Serrano, art teacher Marie Buisson and SEGPA co-director Lilia Samali.

Graphic design: MaxiSouk - Maxime Bersweiler & Soukvilay Cordier.

A creation carried out as part of the "Mon Journal du Monde" program.