Des Barrages et des Hommes en Savoie Céline Clenet

“During one year, at the request of the FONDATION FACIM, and in close collaboration with Electricité De France, I walked the roads and the vast network of hydropower in the Beaufortain area, Savoy (French Alps).I climbed a few hills, explored every corner of the power plants, scrutinized every detail of the machines, and went through forbidden doors. From a Pelton turbine detail, to a large vision of a dam melted in the Alps mountains, I have punctuated these images with portraits of witnesses from the dams’ construction days.

Several times, I happened to find myself alone with these “quiet fortresses”, especially under inclement or snowy weather. During several hours, I walked tirelessly around the high pastures, or along the water reservoirs, the vault, looking for the best picture possible. Alone with these monumental constructions for miles around, I established a special relationship with them, almost intimate. In our mutual silence, I absorbed their impressive and reassuring presence, their high mountain fortified castles looking. And those great “shelters”, mine for a few hours, then kindly revealed to me some of their secrets”