Category Archives: Arts

Arts

Pirouetting through childhood, twins find their own paths

Story by Karla Valdez
Photos by Malcolm Taylor

Identical twins Lola and Marie Arnaud spent their childhood in the ballet studio, creating memories together through intense training. Together, they went from 4-year-olds in leotards and ballet slippers to adolescents in tutus on pointe, but their dreams for the future turned out to be different. 

The twins, who grew up in Arles, practiced together until they were 13 years old, taking classes at the Arabesque dance school. Lola loved classical dance and Marie leaned more towards contemporary style. 

But at 16, Marie decided to venture out into a different path and conclude her career in dance. 

“I couldn’t see myself dancing for a choreographer all my life,” said Marie, who now lives in Paris. “I wanted to keep my freedom. … I was always creative and like to have control over the things I create; that’s why I’m doing chiseling right now.”

Now 19, Marie attends École Boulle, a university in Paris, where she is double majoring in design and chiseling, the art of carving wood, metal or stone to engrave a statue or make jewelry. Meanwhile, Lola is a ballerina at the Arles Youth Ballet Company, training in a supportive environment alongside passionate dancers from around the world.

See Lola Arnaud and colleagues at the Arles Youth Ballet Company practice in the slideshow below.

While Marie chose not to continue dancing professionally, she still loves to dance and practices in her free time. But she wanted her independence from the industry and was eager to discover her artistic side on her own. 

“It was not a black or white choice; it took three years,” she said. “It was not an easy choice at all. There were still things that I loved and did all my life; you just have to be ready to shift completely.”

Lola said she accepted the news that her sister was taking a different path.

“When she told me, I wasn’t sad or shocked that she quit ballet,” Lola said. “Whatever is right for her.” 

The life of a dancer is competitive and intense, not only physically but mentally as well. Lola has experienced two ankle sprains and tendonitis during her career, and maintaining a healthy relationship with food was not always easy.

“I had a weird relationship with my body and food for some years,” said Lola.

It was only as she got older that she came to accept her body and realize that food was fuel, not something she needed to deprive her body of. 

Now, at the Arles Youth Ballet Company, Lola says her directors and choreographers don’t judge or pressure her to look a certain way.

“We don’t have this mentality of treating dancers like that,” said Norton Fantinel, co-director of the youth ballet company. “Our philosophy is human and innovative, treating dancers with respect and kindness.”

Lola dedicates long hours of practice each week from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., Monday through Saturday. This intense training prepares her to participate in performances  and competitions, from classical to neoclassical genres. 

“It is also very intense mentally because you cannot take things personally,” Lola said, noting that dance “is a main part of you because that’s all you do. It’s very hard to be detached from the intense feedback.”

But through the intensity that ballet carries, Lola has persevered and grown as a dancer these last few years, especially with the support she is receiving now at the Arles Youth Ballet Company. Her efforts have paid off.

“The first time I got a gold medal, I was like, that’s so nice, because I would look at people getting gold medals and I was like, “I wish it was me,” she said. “And then when it was me. it was very rewarding.”  

Over the years, Lola has developed healthy habits that allow her to enjoy the art form for what it is. She makes sure to take deep breaths when she feels stressed or anxious about her performances, eat healthy foods and feel energized before going on stage. 

“Dancing is very pleasing because you are in control of your body, especially if you do something technical and it works out super nice,” she said. “I love the artistic side of it, to dance, it is a sense of freedom because I like being on stage.”

Lola is in her fourth year with the Arles Youth Ballet Company, which was founded four years ago to give young dancers professional-quality training that will prepare them for careers in dance.

Fantinel, co-director of the company with his wife, Karina Moreira, said they have helped many dancers to further their careers. This year alone, they have helped 11 dancers fulfill their dreams and find jobs. 

“I’m excited to join a company and perform a repertoire that suits me to grow as an artist, and my near future goals would be to ameliorate my weak points, so that I can be as good as I can.”

Fantinel said students from all over the world come to train at the Arles Youth Ballet Company. The different cultures and languages represented creates a rich atmosphere for learning and collaboration. Everyone is able to learn things from one another, Fantinel says, while together they create a strong team. 

“Your company is a reflection of your work and values,” Fantinel said. “That is why I never work a day in my life because I love what I do.” 

Though Lola and Marie have taken different career paths, they remain close and still dance together from time to time.

“When I went to visit her in Paris during my holidays we took classes together,” Lola said. “She still loves to dance, just not professionally.”

Watch Lola and Marie perform together in this video, shot in 2016.

Lola Arnaud will perform a Tacon Flamenco piece on July 30 at the ancient Roman theater in Arles.

Arts, Postcards

What Photography Taught a Fiction Writer

Text and photos by McCade Hayes

When I first arrived in Arles, I was not greeted by the sun. Rather, when I stepped off the train and into the small formerly Roman city, it was in the early night. I walked to my hostel, exhausted from the full day of travel and sweaty from carrying all of my belongings split between two backpacks. The walk through the night carried with it a mystique in the shadowy corners of the streets that my mind’s imagination began to fill in.

I came to Arles with the intention of making a first attempt at photography, in hopes that it would help to improve my primary craft, writing. After a conversation with Malcolm Taylor, my housemate and a photographer, I decided to take my photos in black and white. This is because taking photos in this style can help to exemplify the form and lighting of a scene. So in the city of Arles, home of the renowned Les Rencontres photography festival, and day-long amazing natural light, I set out to take photos. Here are some of the results.

This amplification of shadows and the form or silhouettes in my pictures, revealed something that I could apply in my writing craft. I found that by changing the camera exposure to darken the lighting while shooting in black and white, the photo’s tone flipped on its head. In the more exposed photos, the walls feel open and welcoming as the city of Arles actually feels.

In the under-exposed photo, the aesthetics changed to a more gothic and slightly unsettling photo that leaves the viewer feeling almost as though the walls close in around them and brings their eyes more towards the sky, or towards escape.

The lighter tones of this photo give a more open feeling to the walls of Arles. Photo by McCade Hayes.
In contrast to the image above, the less exposed photo of the same scene creates a feeling of oppression.

This idea has led me to a conclusion that light as part of setting should be used and exemplified at points within creative written works as well. For example, when setting a scene I can apply this knowledge by considering where in the setting I decide to place the reader’s point of view with considerations of form included. To expand on what I mean by form, the importance of objects, characters and other concepts in a scene is often dictated by the amount of words or space a description of that thing takes up on the page. This also can be applied in a less figurative way, where I describe the lighting in scenes to convey tone, importance, or meaning to the readers.

I was pushed far outside of my comfort zone in the first few weeks of working in this program. By changing my environment completely, down to the language that I am speaking, and the work that I am producing. I have been able to learn a lot about the common ground of creative writing and photography, especially in regards to establishing setting and tone, lessons that I can continue to practice and learn from even after this program.

Arts, Traditions

Arles tunes in

By The Arles Project Staff

Arlesians gathered in the city’s many plazas to enjoy performances from local musicians and students June 21 as part of the nationwide Fête de la Musique.

”It’s alive,” said Arles resident and music student Maria Del Mar. “It is the moment to be. You are concentrating on what you are doing and people are watching and feeling you and exchanging with you.”

Dancers at Place Genive. Photo by Thomas Murphy.

Fête de la Musique has annually animated French streets every June 21 since 1982.

This year, students from Conservatoire du Pays d’Arles, a local music school, showcased their musical talents at Le Capitole in La Roquette.

The eldest of the three sisters, Judith, aspires to specialize in classical music. However, for her, the fun is in the familial aspect of her musical endeavors. “It’s very nice playing with my sisters because I can help them. I really like when we can practice together and play all together.”

Judith and Madeleine Drilleau. Photo by Elizabeth Coleman

Helping her band, The Sheshs, set up, Lisa Guibaud said that this festival is great for the city because it attracts even more tourists to Arles. “It makes the city alive, so it is really cool,” Guibaud said. 

At La Place Voltaire, children gathered to watch and even perform. “If I am in France and there is la Fête de la Musique, I go” said Yodit Kebede, the mother of a young performer. Kebede has been attending the festival since her own childhood.

Children were as engaged as their parents. Photo by Solange Jain.

Young students from a nearby music school came out to perform hit classic rock songs such as “Boys Don’t Cry” by The Cure and “Sultans of Swing” by Dire Straits.

“I think people are drawn to the rhythm,” said Marco Xavier, who was taking in the scene. “Our bodies have a rhythm, too.” This sentiment was also seen in the west end of La Roquette, where residents gathered to sing, dance, and enjoy delicious food. Among the songs sung by the assembled choir was one titled “Gentrifica,” a song that expressed local frustrations with the rising costs of housing due to the spread of Airbnbs.

Guitar detail. Photo by Malcolm Taylor.

Liam Franceschi is a twelve-year-old student at Studio Franceschi, a music studio in Arles, France. He has a variety of talents, including playing the piano, electric guitar and singing, which he has been doing for five years and counting. “I started singing by myself and wanted to start learning the lyrics and sing with other people,” Franceschi said.

His father, the director of the school, has taught him many skills. Liam doesn’t have a favorite genre to play or sing to, but he does not enjoy French rap as much.

Liam Franceschi and a fellow band member. Photo by Karla Valdez.

The celebration brought a stream of business to cafes and restaurants such as Floris Artisan Glacier in the Place de Republique. “It is the opening of the season, it is the moment where people start to come and all and it is a festivity when all the bars and restaurants start to organize everything,” said Pascal Jeom-Phillipe.

Left to right: Bruno Arnold, Pascal Jeom-Philippe and Edwin Noel. Photo by Sophia Maxim.

The day ended with a collective concert held by Rockette Records in front of the Saint-Trophime Primital Church in Place de la République, with flashing lights, and fog for a rave. The featured performers were Makassa, Vax Populi, Bison Bison Falling Down, Salah, and DJ Transition. The energy of the crowd was electrifying with people standing on top of each other and screaming their hearts out all night long.

The evening ended with a blast. Photo by Autumn DeGrazia.

Video by Hannah Levitan

Reported by Thomas Murphy, Karla Valdez, McCade Hayes, Morgan Lily Neuhauser, Lydia Perez, and Judas Wiley. Featured image by Surya Vaidy.

Arts, Postcards

Inclusive efforts misfire at LUMA Arles

Story and photos by Kylie Clifton

LUMA Arles is not just an art museum. Guests enter the whimsical, stainless steel-clad LUMA Tower to meet intertwining metal slides accompanied by the eerie echoes of an hourly singing exhibition composed only of sounds. The design inspires excitement and confusion alike — a theme that continues far beyond the entrance. Inside the exhibits, visitors are encouraged to touch the work as if they’re an active member in the creation.

My visit there brings to mind “Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory.” Much like Charlie’s journey in Roald Dahl’s children’s book, in which a grim reality was revealed just beyond a fanciful entrance, my troubling fate awaited me beneath a staircase, one of many unique sets of stairs, this one mirrored a double helix.

Our group of American students stood together in a tired sweat as we surrounded our English-speaking tour guide. She introduced an exhibit featuring work by Diane Arbus, an American photographer who published most of her work during the 1960s. Arbus is most recognized for her style of direct and intimate photographs of “social deviants,” which often included members of the LGBTQ+ community, drag artists, nudists and sex workers.

The LUMA Arles exhibition “Constellation” is, with 454 photographs, the largest presentation to date of Diane Arbus’ work.

In introducing the exhibit, the tour guide said, “Diane Arbus’ subjects included … homosexuals and transvestites.”

My mind stopped, and I was taken back to Pride 2019 in New York City. Outside a sea of rainbow joy, transphobic protesters roared vile messages and “transvestite” was their slur of choice.

However, the tour guide’s usage was different. She wasn’t angry; she was addressing the subjects of Arbus’ work in a calm manner. I was struck. I had only heard this word paired with rage. I kept asking myself two questions: “How could this be said so casually? Is it possible they said the wrong word?”

I raised my hand, my only instrument to break the silence. “Why is it necessary to use the word transvestite?”

“Is there a different word you’d prefer?” the tour guide responded.

“Well, perhaps the word transgender or…” I offered.

Before I could finish my sentence, the tour guide told me there is a significant difference between the words transgender and transvestite. In the same breath, she said this was the language tour guides were instructed to use for a plethora of reasons — including the fact that Arbus used that word to title her works.

I knew the difference between the words and realized I should have used the word cross-dresser. The 11th edition of the GLAAD Media Reference Guide says cross-dresser has “replaced the offensive word ‘transvestite.’”

The tour guide serves as an educator and, in that role, has tremendous influence. I fear if global visitors to LUMA Arles hear a tour guide using the word, they will use it, too, without realizing how offensive it is.

This usage of this word upset me in 2019 and now again in 2023 for the same reason, but I too often forget that strangers don’t know why. I think everyone should be concerned about the usage of offensive language, but this word cuts deeper for me. I came out as transgender over eight years ago with pride and fear that still lives inside me. Today I have the privilege of “passing” as the woman that I am.

Each day I function like the entire universe knows that I am transgender. I’m always on guard, but it’s a personal battle only I’m aware of. To my knowledge, the LUMA tour guide didn’t know. This left me thinking, if she had known would she have used the word transvestite around me?

I take issue with the fact that Arbus had enormous power over her subjects. She was a cisgender white woman who was born into a wealthy family. There is a distinct power dynamic in which she held a remarkable amount of privilege over her subjects. She’s celebrated for her intimate portrayals of underrepresented subjects, but to me all of her work feels exploitative, as if she crossed a line that wasn’t hers to cross. I’m not the first to raise this issue; it was debated in her own era. 

Yes, this was language that was used at the time, but the term transgender was coined in the 1960s, and people had been challenging the gender binary long before then. It’s possible that some of the drag artists Arbus photographed identified as transgender but hadn’t begun transitioning or more likely feared to start. We don’t know, but using more neutral language or even supplying context for the word would be an act of respect to Arbus’ subjects.

Instead, the conversation with the tour guide became an uncomfortable argument. This was not my intention, and as it continued, I felt the eyes of my peers with pain. What was I doing? As a proud and open trans woman, I am acutely aware of how important it is for me to speak up, but I always forget how difficult it is to do.

At the moment the group was silent, I had to excuse myself. My embarrassing fear was realized, I was the trans woman tearing up in the corner who couldn’t handle confrontation. However, I can recognize now this was not weakness, but strength.

At the close of my tour, I wanted nothing more than to leave and never be seen again. As a trans woman I yearn to be accepted in every space I enter, and often I’m the only one in the room. I wish to be able to blend in and be quiet. This time I spoke up.

After the tour, I spoke privately with the guide. She was apologetic and pledged to speak with her superiors about the use of the word. I recognize that the tour guide was not acting out of malice, but I question the attention to inclusive language in her training.

I don’t care what she titled her pieces; Arbus should not be the authority to follow.

This is a personal reflection and does not necessarily express the opinion of The Arles Project or program sponsors ieiMedia or Arles à la carte.

Arts

Not a performance

Story and photos by Kylie Clifton

It’s a regular day at LUMA Arles. Visitors are milling about; smiles grow like eager crops at the sight of two 90-foot-long intertwining stainless-steel slides. Pascal Coluni, a LUMA welcome agent, collects denim toboggans from guests at the foot of the slide with a wide grin. Guests watch the slides behind smartphones as Coluni checks his watch repeatedly.

And then it starts.

Taking a few steps from his post, Coluni changes his posture and begins to sing. It’s musical, but there are no words. An ethereal echo fills the cavernous tower. The sounds are eerie and bizarre, yet still comforting. Coluni opens his arms to welcome others to join in. A few visitors start singing the wordless song together.

This video shows excerpts from the first part of “These Elements,” a collaborative immaterial artwork created by world-renowned artists Tino Sehgal and Phillipe Parreno. This section of the work lasts about five minutes.

To visitors, it might appear that Coluni has gone rogue – or perhaps a bit mad. However, the song is not spontaneous. It’s the first composition from “These Elements,” a collaborative immaterial artwork created by world-renowned artists Tino Sehgal and Phillipe Parreno. This exhibition was commissioned by LUMA Arles for the opening of the Tower in 2021 and the living artwork has continued daily for two years.

“These Elements” is a permanent exhibition at LUMA Arles, but its existence isn’t documented. Visitors will not find a title, an artist credit, a schedule or a description on location or on the LUMA website.

The exhibition needs to be experienced to be understood, and behind it is a complex list of rules per the artists’ instruction. The first rule: This is not a performance and it should not be regarded as one.

“For Tino’s work, the art is what is born in between the person who does it and the person who receives it,” explained Iaci Lomonaco, head of global engagement for Tino Sehgal. “So, it’s what we are exchanging. Who is singing is [not] the star; [the star] is what we exchange. This really depends on the mood of the interpreter but also the moods of who is receiving it.”

“These Elements” is made up of three compositions and a film. The first element is the immaterial artwork that Coluni participates in. When the singers finish the five-minute piece, they move into a room where visitors are seated on a giant circular couch watching and listening to a multimedia piece by Phillipe Parreno. Once inside the room, the singers join the unknowing guests on the sofa and start improvising electric sounds in a piece called “The Grotto.” The final element, “The Spider,” includes an improvisational duet between a dancer and a pianist. 

From the beginning, LUMA Arles sought to hire existing welcome agents for “These Elements.” Coluni, who started working at LUMA Arles in 2016, was invited to meet Sehgal for a vocal exercise in June 2021. Without any voice lessons or experience performing, he discovered he could sing.

Prior to 2021, he had only ever sung at home and simply for fun. His favorite artists and genres include Michael Jackson, Mariah, jazz and gospel music.

Pascal Coluni, a welcome agent at LUMA Arles, sings the first movement of “Three Elements.”

“It was a revelation for me,” said Coluni. “It revealed my artistic side and the fact that I didn’t know that my voice had that much potential and could cover that great a range in terms of what I could do singing Tino’s work.”

This exhibition is kept alive by the presence of an unknowing audience. Impressions from onlookers can vary from confused to delighted.

“Interaction with people changes it a lot,” said Flore Silly, another LUMA employee who participates in the exhibition. “Energy of the day is always different [which influences the] piece. So every day is different. I learned from those interactions or synergies how to be in flux, to share, to be incarnated in all those different elements.”

Jo Crosby, an Australian who was visiting LUMA Arles recently, heard the vocal piece while viewing another exhibition. Intrigued by the sound, she left her exhibit to find the source.

“I wasn’t sure if it’s an installation or if it’s actually part of the building,” said Crosby. “It’s fantastic to see something that’s not so conservative, that’s brave and yet unexpectedly pushing the boundaries.”

This exhibition is collaborative in nature but not just with the artists — Coluni treasures the moments shared with visitors.

“There was a nurse who had just come out of two years of working through COVID-19,” he recalled. “At the end she came up to me and [silently embraced me]. She had been very moved by the piece and I was also moved by her reaction.”

Arts, Places

Arles’ Performance Aerie

Story and photos by Louis Denson

Claire Nys, and six of her friends were returning home after leaving multiple parties that they didn’t enjoy on a festival evening in Arles when they happened to pass by L’Aire d’Arles. Inside, they saw people happily dancing. “Two girls dressed in long dresses, like two princesses” especially caught their eyes, says Nys, who recalls excellent rock being played on vinyl. Although they were tired, the group of women stopped to join the fun and dance together.

“We were so happy to have found a place that suited us, by chance, in this remote place, away from other parties,” says the long-time Arles resident. “It was a magical, improbable, very joyful, and pretty moment.”

“It’s a place dedicated to the taste and the image,” says its founder, Jonathan Pierredon. Pierredon utilizes the “e” in L’Aire to imply its relation to an aerie or nest. L’Aire d’Arles is “a home for all the eagles and falcons,” he says. L’Aire d’Arles rises from the hill just above the Arles amphitheater and the Roman theater. 

It’s a place to party, gather, share and discover as on any day of the week, especially during the opening week of the Rencontres d’Arles photography festival, there is something different happening on each of the three levels of this restaurant/bar.

There are many venues in Arles to grab a bite or a drink, but none compare to the versatility and diversity that L’Aire provides. Throughout the year, L’Aire d’Arles rotates both its menu and exhibitions. It presents installations of photography and videography from all over the world, music from Brazilian flamenco to Memphis underground vinyl, and food brought to Arles by chefs from Madagascar and Tel Aviv.

As you find the bathroom on the second floor you may come upon an entirely different performance and forget to return to the floor where you started. The sight of the bartenders mixing cocktails welcomes you inside and the aroma of the kitchen floats you upstairs. You can draw on the chalkboard along the stairs, or appreciate the drawings of other patrons.

The second floor is a velveteen lounge space where you can sit and talk as you dissect the everchanging art installations on both the walls and podiums.

And on the third floor, the sound of music and the breeze of fresh air call you to the dance floor and terrace where you can sit back and watch projections on the ancient walls of the city, dance the night away to music, or refresh yourself at the mini-bar.

L’Aire d’Arles welcomes artists and guests of all sorts and styles as all events are free and open to everyone. Pierredon has no criteria for who can share their work. He welcomes all types and techniques of music, art, photography and creation and works them into the venue’s busy schedule.

Arles is not known for its party scene and can be thought of as a small and sleepy town. It can be difficult for amateur artists to have a place to share their works, but L’Aire gives them a platform. L’Aire also invites the students of MoPA, Arles’ prestigious school of animation, to share projections of their films, and it hosts an annual auction for the student work of the National School Supérieure de la Photographie, with an exhibition floor and gavel bidding.

None of this would be possible without the tireless effort and passion of Pierredon and his staff. “Life is full of time, [but] time goes fast,” said Pierredon, sharing his mentality as a business owner, exhibition facilitator and active father.

Pierredon has worked many jobs, including videography for an advertising agency. The time he spent away from his son did not seem justified by pushing a company’s agenda. He wanted that time to have value, reason and passion. In his current work, Pierredon can share his excitement with his son in hopes of instilling verve for community and creation.

He focuses his energy on things that inspire him and that he can look back on and say that he is proud of. “If anything can inspire me, I’m running and jumping.” He loves what he does, the community he can welcome, and values the opportunities the city of Arles has offered him.
The feelings of appreciation are reciprocated by the Arlesian people as well. Pascal Ansell, a musician and language teacher at Arles à lacarte, says, “Jonathan has a very rare and special energy that is exceptional in Arles. He does things for the hell of it; he promotes so many events and wants to support people in what they are already doing. That is so, so precious in the Camargue as there is very, very little of that energy to go around.”

Arts, Postcards

The Body and its Images

Story and photos by Alexie Zollinger

As I walk the narrow streets of Arles, I find myself pausing periodically to admire a piece of graffiti, art displayed in storefront windows, or the occasional flier posted around the city, of which there are plenty. Many of the pieces I am stopping for are public art that display entirely nude figures or they incorporate messages of sexuality or love. 

My assumption is that these are no more than your average piece of artwork to the French and to Arlesians, hence their public display. While I was eating lunch Tuesday and absentmindedly watching French cable television, none of which I understood, on came a commercial depicting a group of nude male and female models being doused in colorful plumes of smoke. It wasn’t until the end of the commercial that I even knew it was an advertisement for deodorant. I sat back and thought, “Wow, that would never fly in Salt Lake City, Utah.”  

Utah is largely known for its five beautiful national parks, outdoor recreation opportunities and, of course, its impressive population of members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (LDS), in which I was raised. The religion itself is a branch of Christianity which shares many of the same beliefs as other Christian religions, but varies in certain aspects. For the purpose of this reflection, I’ll stick to the beliefs I grew up with surrounding sex, modesty and virtue. 

As a young girl, I was first introduced to the concept of sex and intimacy through the context of the LDS church. I was instructed to treat sex as an extremely intimate and sacred act only permitted between a married couple, (additionally– only between a heterosexual and cisgendered couple) for the purpose of reproduction and an important stepping stone towards a primary goal of LDS members, to bear and raise children. 

As a pre-teen and teenager in the church, I learned the church’s guidelines on morality. 

For women, there were no tank tops, no shorts shorter than three inches above the knee, same deal with skirts, no midriff visible, no tattoos or facial piercings beyond one ear piercing in each ear, no low T-shirts or dresses, etc. What I disliked about these messages, even from a young age, was how closely these rules were tied to self worth. 

In Salt Lake City, if someone is not viewing intimacy through a religious lens they are talking about it in a way that is so hypersexualizing that it is dehumanizing. It feels as though there is very little room for healthy sensuality.

Thankfully, being raised by a rather feminist mother, I was taught that I am very capable and what other people think of me is not my concern. I was never attracted to the “better than” narrative I was picking up on through these lessons: “Women who show lots of skin are often women of bad morals,” “Women who have sex out of marriage lack dignity and self respect.” 

In high school, I pierced a second hole in each of my ears, and the glances and suspicion really only increased from that point up until last year, when I signed a letter, had it notarized and sent to the LDS Church’s lawyers, notifying them of my wish to be removed as a member and have my records erased. I had stopped attending church a few years previous to this, but the decision still made my mother cry, and my father sigh. My extended family still doesn’t know, as far as I know.

In Arles and perhaps in all of France, nudity and sexuality appear to be less of a taboo subject than in the United States with its Puritan roots.

I am grateful that through personal growth I have come to find my body as a gift given unto myself, one that is capable and is able to feel all things from sensuality to sadness. I am grateful for having open conversations with friends that help normalize intimacy and encourage comfortability in my skin. 

I am grateful that in other areas of the world, such as Arles, nudity and the human figure are spoken about in terms of art and beauty, and not in privacy and shame. I hope one day to see nudity and physicality and intimacy portrayed in this manner at home, where women feel uncomfortable in their feelings and skin. I will bring more of this approach home with me, and will continue to discourage negative language around the human body, sexuality and intimacy, and act as the French seem to–as though it is something normal and even beautiful. Because it is.

This is a personal reflection and does not necessarily express the opinion of The Arles Project or program sponsors ieiMedia or Arles à la carte.