On the banks of the Seine, Audrey Tautou showcases her photographic skills by installing around fifty images at the Quai de la Photo. The exhibition blends carefully staged self-portraits, portraits of anonymous individuals, and reflections, revealing the actress's playful and sensitive perspective on the world.
For several decades, Audrey Tautou has slipped a camera into her suitcase. Her first photographs, revealed at the Rencontres de la Photographie d'Arles in 2017, already hinted at her penchant for self-deprecation. Excerpts from notebooks, letters, and photographs now intertwine in a highly personal visual language. The book superfacial published in 2024 by Fisheye Editions, which brings together this abundant material, serves as the basis for the exhibition of the same name.
« "Superfacial" invades the contemporary barge of Quai de la Photo, moored at the Gare port in the 13th arrondissement.e Floating on the Seine, this art center dedicated to contemporary photography is, for the first time, dedicating all its decks to a single artist. Visits are free and open to the public every day until September 10th, with four guided tours available from Wednesday to Sunday.
The exhibition brings together around fifty prints organized into three complementary series. The first presents theatrical self-portraits where the actress manipulates costumes and accessories to subvert the myth. The second features more than 500 portraits of journalists taken behind the scenes of film promotions, an amused reflection of the media machine. The third series captures anonymous individuals photographed from behind, silent silhouettes that restore to the photographer the freedom of her gaze.
« "Superfacial" avoids conventional confession and subverts the glamorous facade. Each image highlights the creation of icons by exposing its mechanisms. The sometimes surprising letters sent by the public are displayed alongside the prints, reminding us of the collective nature of the star system. The ever-present humor tempers the introspection and proves that Tautou prefers tenderness to cynicism.
The project finds a direct echo in the book of the same name. Handwritten texts, a personal diary, and fan archives featured in the book also circulate in the room, slipped between frames or projected in soft light. The artist blurs the line between printed and exhibited, inviting visitors to leaf through the space like an open album.
The barge offers ideal, raking light for these images, dominated by soft colors and sincere gazes. “Superfacial” transforms the distance between star and viewer into a familiar conversation. We leave the dock with the rare feeling of having met both a celebrated personality and an attentive photographer. This collection of images confirms that fiction can emerge simply from observing reality.
“Superfacial by Audrey Tautou”
Photo Quay
9, Port de la Gare, Paris 13e
Until September 10, 2025
