Madonna Trash
A new exhibition is taking place at the Maison Européenne de la Photographie in Paris with a quite unique subject: Trash.
The original inspiration for this two-man project by Paris Match photographers Bruno Mouron and Pascal Rostain was an article featured on “Le Monde” where a sociology professor explained a study he had carried out in which household waste was analysed in order to provide an understanding of consumerism and social behaviour.
Mouron and Rostain found that this was both the opportunity to have some almost adolescent fun that was perfectly consistent with their profession : they decided to “go through the trash” thrown away by their celebrity clients. The way they worked has as much to do with paparazzis as with sociology: it involved tracking down, locating and planning the collection of the waste that interested them.
They started with the likes of Brigitte Bardot, Georges Marchais, Le Pen, Bernard Tapie, Yannick Noah, and Gérard Depardieu. Encouraged by Daniel Filipacchi they continued their antics in Los Angeles, rifling through the trash thrown out by Brando, Nicholson, Madonna, Michael Jackson and even Ronald Reagan.
Pascal Rostain and Bruno Mouron have been “going through the trash” for fifteen years, producing an inventory that is troubling from a moral, economic and even political point of view. But who’s upsetting whom? Who’s upsetting what? The subjects thamselves prefer to manage their obscenity rather than leaving it to others. The trashcan is the ultimate abjection – it is even more scatological than bodily waste – it is “pornographic” in that it denounces foibles, faults and deviances. Trash speaks to us of shame and shadow.
“Trash”, by Bruno Mouron and Pascal Rostain runs from 14 March to 3 June 2007 at the Maison Européenne de la Photographie in Paris.
For further info please visit www.mep-fr.org. Thanks to our Team member Sam.