Vasantha Yogananthan has been exploring Provence since 2020, encountering its landscapes and the characters who inhabit it. Le Passé Composé is the first chapter of his long-term project, Images Imaginaires.

A woman appears with a confident stride and a bouquet of mimosas in her hand. Where is she going? The street is decked out in muted colors, it doesn’t look very warm. The mimosa blooms in winter, it’s the turn of the year. Outside, the rustle of branches; inside, the gesture of a hand turning a page. The doors are open, letting in draughts and the already familiar stranger. A woman appears in the luminous penumbra. What is she reading? Here, books form shifting mountains. One day, on a bedside table, tomorrow, on the corner of a bookcase. The rooms radiate yellow, blue and red—the colors of the present past. Outside, the mist skims the hills of mysterious Provence, inside the hand caresses the hair. The house is memory, sheltering remembrances. The sun turns, time stretches, the journey is still. A woman appears from behind, looking out of the window. Who is she? Her name is F., you may have met her before.

Cécile Poimboeuf-Koizumi