In his Homage to Marguerite Duras , Lacan warns us that “the only advantage that a psychoanalyst has the right to take from his position, […], is to remember with Freud that in his matter, the artist always precedes him” from Sophie . And indeed, Sophie Calle’s work is from this point of view particularly interesting and valuable, as we will illustrate from two of her projects which are based on letters, of which she was or was not the recipient.
Born in Paris in 1953, Sophie Calle is an artist who combines writing and visual arts. A writer of our time, she has not written novels, stories, essays, or even poems. She uses all these literary genres to express a contingent fact of her life that she captures to serve as a starting point. Then, she embodies the affects that she recounts, as well as the characters she interprets, like the rituals she imagines and the pieces of life that she stages. A singular look at the world she inhabits is the seal of her know-how that she transforms at her own pace into an extraordinary work of art.
We will first take from Sophie two texts taken from his book
In ” The Portrait ” [3] , she tells us the circumstances of the discovery of a letter which was not intended for her.
“ I was nine years old. While going through my mother’s mail, I found a letter addressed to her that began: ‘Darling, I hope you are seriously considering putting our Sophie in boarding school…’ The letter was signed with the accurate cleaned numbers list from frist database name of a friend of my mother’s. I concluded that he was my real father. […] I would sit on his lap and, my eyes locked with his, I would wait for a confession. Faced with his indifference and silence, I sometimes had doubts. Then I would reread the stolen letter… ”
In ” La Rivale ” [4] , she narrates a very unusual episode, her appropriation of a found letter, of which she was not the recipient either.
“I wanted a letter from him but he wouldn’t write it. One day I read my name: “Sophie”, written at the top of a blank page. It gave me hope. Two months after our wedding, I noticed a sheet of paper sticking out under his typewriter. As I slid it ai assistant has arrived on the android and ios mobile app towards me, I discovered this sentence: “I have a confession to make to you, last night I kissed your letter and your photo”, I continued reading backwards: “One day you asked me if I believed in love at first sight. Did I ever answer you?” Only this note wasn’t intended for me: at the very top there was an H. I crossed out H. and replaced it with S. This love letter became the one I never received”.
From the first letter, Sophie Calle expected a confession, in the other case, a sign of love.
Take care of yourself !
In 2003 the artist addressed pain and rupture in her book “Douleur exquise” [5] . Four years later she returned to it with this major work: ” Praise soin de vous ” [6] , the work that produced a turning point in her career, allowing her to book your list represent France at the Venice Biennale in 2007.
The book begins like this:
“I received a break-up email [7] . I didn’t know how to respond. It was as if it wasn’t meant for me. It ended with the words: “Take care of yourself.” I took this advice literally. I asked 107 women – including one with a pen and two made of wood – chosen for their profession, their talent, to interpret the letter from a professional perspective. To analyze it, comment on it, act it, dance it, sing it. Dissect it. Exhaust it. Understand it for me. Speak in my place. A way of taking the time to break up. At my own pace. Take care of myself.”