{"id":80290,"date":"2020-03-25T16:28:42","date_gmt":"2020-03-25T15:28:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lesaint.abvent.com\/serie\/dark-circus-2020\/"},"modified":"2021-09-06T15:39:49","modified_gmt":"2021-09-06T13:39:49","slug":"dark-circus-2020","status":"publish","type":"serie","link":"https:\/\/agencevu.com\/en\/serie\/dark-circus-2020\/","title":{"rendered":"Dark Circus, 2020"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Dark Circus, 2020<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div><\/section>\n

Rapha\u00ebl Neal<\/a><\/h5>\n<\/div><\/section>\n

Dark Circus is a collection of self-portraits produced in London during the Covid-19 lockdown.<\/p>\n

Towards the end of March, following a few days of disbelief regarding the situation, I started to spend more and more time in my studio. I got taken by surprise by what emerged: a photo series inspired by the circus, a world I have no knowledge of nor particular interest in. Gradually, as I played with the makeup, fabrics and costumes I had accumulated during recent years, I came up with characters who became my imaginary models, replacing those who I couldn\u2019t photograph in real life. I got fonder and fonder of this strange circus troupe performing for an absent audience. Some characters are waiting in their dressing rooms in a state of uncertainty, much in the same way that the pandemic forced me to pause my regular artistic work.<\/p>\n

I needed to get away from the deserted streets, the worrying news and the online madness. As Blanche DuBois says in Tennessee Williams\u2019 A Streetcar Named Desire : \u00ab I want magic, not realism! \u00bb<\/p>\n

Alone in my studio, I started reflecting on the meaning behind the circus, and how we sometimes need a time and place to escape and recreate a parallel world where our daily fears, happinesses, hopes and desires appear in new clothes. I see circuses as dark places full of disguised people lit by artificial light who tell you stories and lies which nonetheless, for a few fleeting moments, you believe. It is impermanent, built in a no man\u2019s land, away from convention, away from \u00ab normal \u00bb life.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/section><\/div>

Borne out of the frustration of not being able to photograph people, filled with the desire to connect, I started to like my characters, and began to understand them: the tight-rope walker who has vertigo, the target woman asking for our help, the Siamese twins who appear to be a trick made by a very lonely person. They all seem to be having a hard time, unsure whether the circus is a refuge or a prison, themselves trapped in sometimes grotesque images of entertainment. I recognise in them my desperate desire to celebrate life in a time of uncertainty and tragedy. Somewhere in this \u00ab Dark Circus \u00bb, there is an underlying sense of hope and freedom that this radical situation unexpectedly offered to a lot of us. I have noticed that a lot of anxious or depressed people around me admitted that the lockdown actually brought about in them a deep sense of belonging in the world. For the very first time in their lives, the quiet and strange tension of the outside echoed their inner world.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/section><\/div>

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Serie | <\/span> Dark Circus\u00a0is a collection of self-portraits produced in London during the Covid-19 lockdown.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":80286,"menu_order":0,"template":"","categories":[],"tags":[4022,16552],"photographe":[16548],"section_taxonomy":[5484],"yoast_head":"\nDark Circus, 2020 - Agence VU'<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Dark Circus, 2020 - Agence VU'\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Serie | Dark Circus\u00a0is a collection of self-portraits produced in London during the Covid-19 lockdown.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Agence VU'\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/VUagence\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2021-09-06T13:39:49+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/agencevu.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/00_NEAL23814-2020CL20.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"232\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"290\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@agence_vu\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/agencevu.com\/en\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/agencevu.com\/en\/\",\"name\":\"Agence VU'\",\"description\":\"Agency of photographers founded in 1986\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":\"https:\/\/agencevu.com\/en\/?s={search_term_string}\",\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"@id\":\"#primaryimage\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/agencevu.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/00_NEAL23814-2020CL20.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/agencevu.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/00_NEAL23814-2020CL20.jpg\",\"width\":232,\"height\":290,\"caption\":\"England, London, 26 April 2020 From the series \\\"Dark Circus\\\". Self portrait with tarot cards. Angleterre, Londres, 26 avril 2020 Issue de la s\\u00c8rie \\\"Dark Circus\\\". Autoportrait au jeu de tarot. Rapha\\u00cel Neal \/ Agence VU\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"#webpage\",\"url\":null,\"name\":\"Dark Circus, 2020 - Agence VU'\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/agencevu.com\/en\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"#primaryimage\"},\"datePublished\":\"2020-03-25T15:28:42+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2021-09-06T13:39:49+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[null]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"item\":{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/agencevu.com\/en\/home\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/agencevu.com\/en\/home\/\",\"name\":\"Home\"}},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"item\":{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/agencevu.com\/en\/serie\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/agencevu.com\/en\/serie\/\",\"name\":\"Series\"}},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":3,\"item\":{\"@id\":\"#webpage\"}}]}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/agencevu.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/serie\/80290"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/agencevu.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/serie"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/agencevu.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/serie"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/agencevu.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/serie\/80290\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":149842,"href":"https:\/\/agencevu.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/serie\/80290\/revisions\/149842"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/agencevu.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/80286"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/agencevu.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=80290"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/agencevu.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=80290"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/agencevu.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=80290"},{"taxonomy":"photographe","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/agencevu.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/photographe?post=80290"},{"taxonomy":"section_taxonomy","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/agencevu.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/section_taxonomy?post=80290"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}