French photographer-artist calls the craft a universal language

French photographer Muriel Pénicaud's black-and-white images leave interpretation open, showcasing urban landscapes, trees, and women's freedom.

French photographer-artist Muriel Pénicaud prefers her images to not impose an idea or thought; rather leave them open-ended. The black-and-white frames, for her, are “an open door to poetry”, and left to the interpretation and imagination of the viewer.

The former French Minister of Labour in the government of Prime Minister Édouard Philippe under President Emmanuel Macron (2017-2020) was recently in the city to host two exhibitions of her works.

The ‘Wind into the Roots’ show being held from January 17 to February 28 at The Spot showcases two major series on urban landscapes and trees, while the ‘Deep Heights’ expo (January 17-February 23) at Kalinka Art Gallery features an allegory of women’s freedom and spiritual elevation through poetic images of birds, trees and altitudes.

For the artist, who has exhibited her work, including many award-winning prints, at top art galleries across Paris, Beijing and Tokyo, this was her first show here. The Kalinka expo also featured the launch of ‘Matrix of Worlds’, her first photography book released in 2024 — a monograph showcasing 150 of her prints from a trilogy of her first three exhibitions themed on women, trees and birds and how they link back to mythological roots of life on earth.

Ms. Pénicaud says she loves photography as it is a uniquely universal and accessible language. “It is a huge gift for humanity for people who differ in land, language and culture to be able to share similar emotions in front of a photo,” she adds.

She prefers to work in black and white photography to “extract the light from the dark” and because the duality goes right to the essential. “You just have light and structure...nothing fancy or superfluous”. In its depiction of reality, the black-and-white photograph adds a certain depth and creates a space to the viewer to assign imagination and emotion, she says.

“I am a photographer in black and white...and red”, she remarked in jest, about her rare use of colour in her series, “Life is red” as a signifier of suffering and alienation, women’s freedom and empowerment. This is best illustrated in an image of a single red sandal in a heap of shoes — her way of memorialising the Auschwitz horrors — or another frame showing a line of faceless women in scarlet apron taken in Vietnam.