Orée

Orée, commissioned by the Festival Présences féminines and composed in homage to Francesca Caccini (1587-1640), was completed on October 2, 2020. The word orée comes from Latin and means edge, border, margin. We speak of the edge of a wood, the edge of a forest, but also the edge of an avenue, the edge of the sea or the edge of the century. It’s a borderline place where we lie in wait, sometimes hesitating as to which direction to take, or, on the contrary, arriving with the relief of being able to leave a hostile or threatening environment. It is at the same time a place of beginning and end of freedom of movement, a place of uncertainty. Here, the edge is an image that is associated with the profound sensation of confronting the Unknown. This image comes to me as the work advances, invading page after page the other, saturates the mind, requires more time, mobilizes more forces. The thickets of ideas and the coppices of effort become intertwined, a passage opens up with a jab, revealing the possibility of a trajectory, then, pointing to an edifice, a form, in the distance. It’s then that we sense the near edge. Hesitation, jubilation, an inner murmur, the first steps out of the abyss, the beginnings of hope, cautious auscultation of space, subdued returns of disquieting sounds, the air circulates, the voice tries.