In this project, Heatwave, Elsa Leydier looks at climate change through an instance of the wine-making industry.
For champagne, a drink with a centuries-long heritable recipe, global warming is a threat. Fluctuations in temperature extremes are harmful to the quality of the grapes, and harvesting in hot weather is particularly detrimental. Ironically or not, the least desirable influence on champagne is ‘un goût de lumière’ (the ‘taste of light’). The drink loses its subtle palette of aromas when it's exposed to UV light.
Heatwave offers Leydier’s artistic vision of the relation between nature and the people who work tightly connected with it — as well as an interpretation of the climate crisis on civilization. She created her rayograms, cameraless images, by placing vines on photosensitized paper and exposing it to light. On top, as a filter, she placed tainted materials used to protect champagne from the light’s adverse effects. A poetic project to highlight the urge to battle climate change.
In 2021, Leydier’s works is presented a.o. at Rencontres Internationales de la Photographie d’Arles (FR), Encontros da Imagem Emergentes Award (PT) and Festival Photo Climat (FR).