EN - Chemin de ronde — erwangravez

Chemin de ronde

Ongoing - 2025

The legacy of the Chemin de Ronde, also known as the customs path or coastal trail, highlights a key point of tension typical of our Northern Mediterranean coastal interfaces: what are the interwoven layers that compose them, and how do they interconnect?

These shorelines carry as many fantasies as they do strata. It is therefore possible to take a closer look at their internal dynamics in order to grasp the stakes at play: from the beach and holiday resort, to the lighthouse beacon and the watchtower, or even to the borders of the hinterland and its commercial flows.

The boundaries of these spaces are ambiguous: the Chemin de Ronde evokes the rupture between an inside and a beyond; it defines the citadel and implies its surveillance. Much like the structure of the shoreline, which shifts with the tides, there is a certain plasticity in these coastal spaces, and a specific articulation among their components.

This project’s research focuses on the tension points between a fantasized organic world — this marine space and its movements — and the extreme rigidity of a hinterland shaped like a vascular system.

The conceptual works of John Baldessari and Robert Rauschenberg, as well as the photography of Stephen Shore, are major references for this research.

Image corpus and framings, mounting, analog prints and inkjet prints.

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