Puzzling

Driven by the desire to provoke introspection rather than satisfy a need for contemplation, Camille Poitevin seeks to tame and subvert various techniques and mediums in order to use them in a personal and critical way. Drawing from sociological and feminist theories, her approach aims to reveal the invisible structures that shape our perceptions and behaviors, particularly under the influence of what sociologist Zygmunt Bauman terms the "liquid society" – a world dominated by consumption and immediacy, where everything becomes unstable. Her work sheds light on the emotional, relational, and identity-related contradictions and tensions that result, often exacerbated by social norms and collective pressures. It also raises questions about the value attributed to objects and images in a society where excess is normalized and drowned in the mass. Through her art, Camille Poitevin invites a critical pause, a moment of reflection on the ephemeral and the invisible, on what is seen and what remains hidden, while also questioning the durability of that which, nevertheless, dissolves quickly.

"Picture Element" is a video installation that deliberately slows the circulation of images. Lenses salvaged from discarded disposable cameras, placed in front of a video of mouths eating, transform the screen into an unstable, hypnotic optical surface. The image only reveals itself through the viewer’s movement and the time they are willing to grant it. Presented like a storefront advertising screen, the installation diverts a device intrinsic to the attention economy: the mouths, associated with bodies historically subjected to surveillance and discipline, are neither offered nor consumable. Filtered and slowed down, they elude regimes of visibility that demand clear, fast, and immediately available images.

In "States of an Eating Self", Camille Poitevin turns her lens toward one of our most fundamental yet socially regulated acts: eating. Shot in a neutral, studio-like setting using a slow, uninterrupted tracking shot, the project invites participants to share a meal together, not as a performance, but as a lived moment. They are not directed or staged, but simply invited to eat freely, attentively, together. The artist’s process deliberately shifts the codes of studio portraiture. Rather than pursuing control or ideal form, she creates the conditions for something spontaneous to emerge. Her selection focuses on what typically escapes representation: the in-between gestures, micro-expressions, and subtle physical responses that unfold when attention is turned inward. This act of slowing down challenges the aesthetics of efficiency and polish, and allows space for presence and introspection. By working with sexised subjects - those whose bodies have historically been regulated in how they appear, move, and take up space - the artist examines how gendered norms and consumer culture shape our relationship to desire, control, and visibility. In this way, eating becomes more than nourishment: it becomes a political gesture, a quiet resistance, and a site for reclaiming embodied presence. It reveals itself as a site of negotiation between internal experience and external gaze.