For Armand To Remember is a very personal and intimate project, a mix of documentary and poetry that hopefully will help my son understand how complex and yet beautiful (at least for us) was the situation in the 1st year of his life.
My partner and I live in Québec, but our families are in France. She got pregnant before Covid-19 even existed, and we quickly understood that the following months were going to be very different from what we expected.
That being said, we’ve experienced the weirdest feelings ever, as we had the worst and the best year at the same time. So Armand was born in August 2020, and months later, it was still impossible for our families to come visit, and for us to travel.
That being said, we’ve experienced the weirdest feelings ever, as we had the worst and the best year at the same time. So Armand was born in August 2020, and months later, it was still impossible for our families to come visit, and for us to travel.
That’s when the transatlantic frustration reached its climax. It was heartbreaking. As soon as a window opened, we took a chance and flew to France. That’s when this project began. It was super important for me to document these moments drenched with love and exhaustion, the bonds, the omnipresence of the sea, the uncertainty and the sadness of leaving, with no idea when we’ll be able to come back.
In the future I want to be able to show Armand the duality of our emotions at this precise time of his life, and this is why I collected these souvenirs between December 2020 and January 2021, in Brittany and Provence.
Francois Ollivier is a self-taught photographer. Born in the south of France, he has lived and worked in Montreal since 2011. he wish he had a great story about inheriting his first camera from his grandfather or something like that, but no. he simply bought it in a store.
He has studied languages, worked as a lighting designer for shows, and spent several years being a creative ad guy. He now focus on his photography, combining artistic and documentary / commercial practices.
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