Sixtine de Thé

Sixtine works with photography, installation, video and sculpture. She is interested in seeing how the image appears, what brings it into existence. She has often worked with argentic photography in an experimental way on fragile supports such as skin, bread… Before attending the Beaux-Arts in Paris, Sixtine studied art history and literature, which also influences her practice.

Her inspirations include Oscar Muñoz or Sophie Ristelhueber, who address themes such as the face, the body and its fragility, echoing history, politics, territory…

“Quelque chose qui noire” is a photographic project that is both documentary and metaphysical about the darkness that is the result of power outages in present-day Lebanon. It is a work realized at the Villa el Qamar (French Institute of Lebanon) in 2022 where the artist is in residence. It seeks to capture, through the particularities of photographic technique, what is implied by a generalized loss of substance in a bankrupt country, contrary to the usual vision of a country known for the beauty of its light. In the context of an unprecedented economic crisis, oil is no longer subsidised, severely limiting access to electricity. Darkness punctuates daily life so much that it sometimes seems to be on the verge of swallowing it up.

Sixtine de Thé spent several months tracking down the moment of the power cut when darkness sets in and there is soon almost nothing left to see. Working on both scenes and still lifes, she systematically favoured dawn and dusk – seeking the first and last images of the world – always asking the same question: what is left?