White Hot

When I arrived in France, I was shocked by the number of forest fires in Provence. Heat, drought and the Mistral wind have always favored the outbreak of forest fires in this region, but the fire of August 2021 in the Var was exceptional in its ferocity. Firefighters had to battle a particularly hot fire, which consumed the forest at a speed almost impossible to contain, fueled by an excessively strong wind. Over 7,000 hectares were burnt. In the context of the huge fires that ravaged my home country, Canada, in 2023, the 2021 fire in the Maures forest may seem less significant, but all these exceptional forest fires demonstrate the state of imbalance of the climate and show us the concrete effects they have on the environment and the consequences for us.

The images in the White Hot series were taken two months after the fire. Not wanting to limit myself to a documentary approach, I transformed the images of the aftermath of this fire in post-production: the images are overexposed and saturated in color, to express the white heat effect of the burning forest. Behind the colors, the charred remains of the burnt trees act as a linear skeleton that defines and anchors the image. In the end, I let my artistic imagination work to create an almost apocalyptic vision of a forest ravaged by fire - a prophetic reminder of the current climatic situation.