As part of this year’s Mois de la Francophonie, French photographer Léa Habourdin opened her solo exhibition Des Mondes en Extension at The Happenings Place in Shunde this January.
The exhibition marks the artist’s first solo presentation in the city and brings together four bodies of work that explore the fragile relationship between nature, memory, and human presence.
Born in northern France in 1985, Habourdin studied printmaking at École Estienne before continuing her photography training at the École Nationale Supérieure de la Photographie in Arles.
Her work frequently blends photographic processes with techniques drawn from painting and printmaking.
In 2015, she received the PMU–LE BAL “Carte Blanche” Award, and her projects have been supported by several French research grants.
Habourdin’s practice often begins in landscapes where traces of human activity are minimal.
For several years, she has travelled across Europe documenting vulnerable ecosystems and remote wilderness areas.
Using plant pigments, textile printing, and experimental photographic techniques, she creates images that respond directly to the environments where they are produced.
The exhibition in Shunde presents four representative series: Images-forêts (Forest Images), Images sénescentes, AVEC, and Mélopées (Dunes).
In Images-forêts, Habourdin draws inspiration from the observation that truly primary forests no longer exist in France.
After visiting protected natural reserves and collecting plants from the surrounding landscapes, she used their pigments to print forest silhouettes onto fabric.
The resulting images appear soft and almost fading, evoking the intimate forests people carry in memory.
The series AVEC shifts attention toward secondary forests, places that may not meet official definitions of wilderness but carry meaning through everyday encounters.
Habourdin gathered local stories about particular trees, forgotten hunting grounds, mushroom-picking spots, and childhood paths.
Using materials such as onion skins, artichokes, and dried flowers, she dyed fabrics and assembled them into textile compositions that map these personal memories of landscape.
One of the most thought-provoking works appears in Images sénescentes.
Three anthotype prints, made using plant pigments, are stored in wooden boxes.
Because the images are highly sensitive to light, they slowly fade when exposed.
Visitors face a choice: open the box and see the image, accelerating its disappearance, or leave it closed and allow the work to endure longer.
At the center of the gallery hangs Mélopées, a large textile installation inspired by a shifting dune landscape along the Baltic coast.
Constructed from linen dyed with natural pigments such as madder root and helichrysum, the five-meter-long piece captures the movement of sand shaped by wind over time.
The exhibition opening also included a cultural exchange that connected French contemporary art with Shunde’s culinary heritage.
Guests sampled traditional local delicacies prepared by Shunde master chef Lin Chaodai, including Shunde raw fish, ginger milk pudding, and intricately crafted lion-head pastries.
The tasting brought a lively moment to the event, blending visual art with the region’s celebrated food culture.
Mois de la Francophonie
January 15-April 12
11am-7.30pm (closes on Tuesday)
The Happening Place
No.22 Yanjiang Bei Lu, Building 3, Weaving Garden, Daliang, Shunde 顺德大良沿江北路22号三号楼不期馆
[All images courtesy of the Happening Place]
