Yann Monel: La Fable du Jardin at Villa Romana
From May 13 to June 30, Florence’s Villa Romana hosts the exhibition La fable du Jardin by Yann Monel, French photographer and gardener.
© Yann Monel, La Fable du Jardin, Vila Romana, Florence
53 photographs, taken from 31 different gardens in France, England, Denmark, Spain, Scotland, Germany, and Italy are exhibited in the Sala Giardino of the Villa Romana. Displayed in a circle at eye level, starting aside the window that gives onto the garden of the Villa, all around to the opposite side, they allow the observer to enter an imaginary garden. And, as the title of this series of photographs already indicates, they tell a story; La Fable du Jardin. It is the story of the garden itself, of the human presence in it, and of the traces left behind.
© Yann Monel, La Fable du Jardin, Vila Romana, Florence
The second part of the exhibition is called Tiers Paysage, and contrasts greatly with La Fable du Jardin. Whereas the latter is compiled of gardens that are constantly shaped, cultivated and cared for by gardeners, Tiers Paysage is about the abandoned Forêt de la Corniche des Forts, a park a few kilometers outside of Paris, covering an area of 40 hectares. Even if abandoned and overgrown, or exactly because of that – according to the artist– that may be the most beautiful garden in existence. So, not surprisingly, there is a parallel between that garden and Yann Monel’s, since he doesn’t set foot in his own either, thus making him a gardener that doesn’t do gardening.
Yann Monel: La fable du Jardin at Villa Romana, Firenze through June 30, 2016
