Je ne reprendrai pas la ferme

Overview

His name is Damien Rouxel. He made a choice not to take over the dairy business from his parents. At the age of 17, he left the family farm to pursue an artistic career at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts. It was then that his questions became obvious; his identity asserted itself, and trouble took root. He works and questions himself on gender, identity, pictorial art codes, agribashing, queerophobia, and family heritage. But far from forgetting his roots, he regularly returns to the family farm, where he stages his parents and sister, armed with his camera. Still dressed in their work coats, they agree to pose, giving a new reading of the great art references mixed with rural codes. And Damien, at the center of these often biblical scenes, plays with accessories and references: milk pumps, calf buckets, and tractors rub shoulders with nipples, sequins, and stilettos to create a new aesthetic.