Sixtine de Thé

Sixtine works in photography, installation, video and sculpture. What interests her is seeing how the image appears, what brings it into existence. She has often worked experimentally with silver-based photography on fragile supports such as skin and bread. Before studying at the Beaux-Arts in Paris, Sixtine studied art history and literature, which also influences her practice.

His inspirations include Oscar Muñoz and Sophie Ristelhueber, who tackle themes such as the face, the body and its fragility, echoing history, politics and territory...

"Quelque chose qui noire is a photographic project that is both documentary and metaphysical, focusing on the darkness caused by power cuts in present-day Lebanon. It was produced at the Villa el Qamar (Institut Français du Liban) in 2022, where the artist is in residence. Using the particularities of photographic technique, it seeks to capture the implications of a generalized loss of substance in a bankrupt country, countering 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 subsidized, severely limiting access to electricity. Darkness punctuates daily life to such an extent that it sometimes seems on the verge of engulfing it.

Sixtine de Thé spent several months tracking down that moment in the power cut when darkness sets in and there's soon almost nothing left to see. Working on scenes as well as still lifes, she systematically favored dawn and dusk - searching for the first and last images of the world - always asking the same question: what's left?