Why does one become an artist? How? To what extent is one an artist?

Guided by direct questions from Catherine Grenier, Sophie Ristelhueber describes the atypical advance of an artist for whom nothing predetermined this late, but accomplished, destiny.

With no concessions even to herself, and without pretence to something else, the artist evokes the stages of passion which imposed itself suddenly, like an interior necessity.

A passion that took her to war-torn lands, into their conflicts and wounds, in search of the traces of war and its scars.

Lucid and sincere, this artist’s confession constitutes a perfect introduction to contemporary art, its finalities and what is at stake.

She is witness to an aesthetic quest which, overturning the normal course of life, pushes the creator to venture further and further from themselves.

Sophie Ristelhueber is one of the great figures of art photography today. Since her foundational work on the city of Beirut destroyed in the war at the beginning of the 1980s, she has followed a demanding path that tests the conditions in which the real is seen.

Catherine Grenier is the Adjunct Director of the Musée national d’art moderne, Centre Pompidou. An art historian, she is the author of numerous publications and texts about contemporary art.

This book is part of the Documents series, co-published with Les presses du réel and dedicated to critical writings.

French text.