Test, Sciacca (Sicile), Aout 1999 (Test, Sciacca (Sicily), August 1999)

Jean-Luc Moulène

Jean-Luc Moulène manipulates the aesthetic of commercial photography to stark effect, often creating deeply political images that are anything but glamorous. Moulène photographs his subjects against monochromatic backgrounds with a disarming lack of affectation or sentiment. His method also frequently involves recycling images from older collections of photographs and using them in newer works, such as the multiple shots of female genitalia that comprise the three-dimensional collage Cristal Sex (2006). Produits de Palestine (2002-2004) documents a number of retail goods, from wafers to women’s underwear, manufactured in Gaza and the West Bank, starkly photographed individually or in pairs. By enabling the products’ images to be seen by viewers (or consumers) of art, Moulène symbolically circumvents the trade sanctions imposed on the occupied territories.