By combining previously unseen work - notably the film Porte d'Aubervilliers (2020) - with older images, this solo exhibition attempts to embody the idea that one of the primary necessities of every living species is shelter. The notions of building and construction, but also of natural refuge, lead us to rethink these contemporary gestures, which today are closer to the financial economy than to the protection of living things. Valérie Jouve's photographic work focuses on the relationship between the human being and the landscape, and more specifically the city and its surroundings. Each image is built around the notion of an encounter between bodies (people, architecture, and the organic, mineral and atmospheric elements of the landscape). Her 'characters' (human or non-human), without caricature or anecdote, mark an intense relationship with their environment, whether within the image itself or in the montages that the artist uses in her exhibitions.

Valérie Jouve was born in Saint-Etienne in 1964. Trained as an ethnologist at the University of Lyon and then as a photographer at the ENSP in Arles, "her work has always questioned the dominant frameworks in a dialogue with individuals and unusual places", she writes. She has tirelessly observed her era and sought to find the right perception, the right perspective. A singular figure among the artists of her generation, her work has been exhibited since 1996 in France and abroad, in prestigious institutions as well as alternative venues. Her exhibitions are often conceived as visual compositions of images produced independently, at different periods, and whose montage makes sense.

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