De la terre à la terre
Lucas Dubuis
Lucas Dubuis’s images examine our connection with the representation of the living and the dead, addressing the practical aspects of the handling of the deceased in our society and the symbolic meaning of funeral rites in the context of a village permeated by Catholicism. To create this work (which he has gathered in a publication), Dubuis followed for several months Dominique Theurillat, a farmer and undertaker in Les Breuleux in the Swiss Jura. The collection of images, exhibited publicly for the first time, show the daily life of a man who divides his time between the responsibilities of family farm and care for the deceased of the region.
Dubuis shows side by side the world of the farm and of the morgue, the world of the living and of the dead – worlds that stand in contrast to each other, resemble each other and complement one another. A metaphor for the human condition, in which the warmth of the stable is not that far from the antiseptic chill of a morgue illuminated by neon lights. De la terre à la terre also alludes to the verse of Genesis in which disobedient humanity is condemned to work and to death: “In the sweat of your face you shall eat bread till you return to the ground, for out of it you were taken; for dust you are, and to dust you shall return.”
Year of production: 2019-2023
