Ten years ago, I resigned from my job as CFO to focus on photography. Since then, I alternate consulting jobs with periods dedicated to my practice, in a delicate balance where my camera is never far away.
For the past ten years, my social status is vague – neither really an artist (often judged too old to be an emerging artist), nor a professional worker – I alternate between being an artist in residence, an unemployed worker, a student, a senior woman seeking a job, or an experienced consultant…
My daily life resides in sending resumes, doing interviews, or responding to calls for applications; with the feeling of having to constantly redefine myself, without ever really knowing where to situate myself - in a social environment that requires clear categories, I clash.
The concept of value infuses my daily life. My discussions with consulting forms quickly lean towards my daily rate. I am a “body for hire”, and the more time passes, the harder it is for me to assign a value to this body, as well as to the artwork I produce. This question of value is at center of the first chapter of the book entitled “the workforce.”
This question is illustrated by a large-format print of my drawing “Homo economicus”, a collection of words used to describe this concept of “workforce”. The drawing is surrounded by proofs of photos taken during business trips while working for a major French company. There I traveled internationally to audit recently acquired companies and define actions plans to integrate them into the group.
The scenography reflects my ambivalence about my involvement in the global financial system – a system to which I am both a subject (I have to make a living) and an active participant (as a financial manager).