FR · EN · SUZANNE TARASIEVE · Artiste Photographe Estelle Hanania Green Sea Swallow Tail ƒ Exposition 07 février – 29 mars 2026 · Press Release
Après avoir exploré les enjeux de la métamorphose des corps pendant de longues années, photographiant des sujets directement traversés par des questions de théâtralité,
de mise en scène et de travestissement, la photographe Estelle Hanania s’attelle aujourd’hui
à appliquer cette notion de métamorphose au corps même de sa production d’images. Développant une série de totems photographiques, nés du désir de reprendre sa matière photographique en main et d’un besoin de donner littéralement corps aux récits.
La série, présentée en février 2026 à la Project Room de la galerie Suzanne Tarasieve, s'intitule « Green Sea Swallow Tail ».
En référence à cette espèce rare de papillon d’Asie du Sud-Est, un papillon bleu-vert
aux ailes recouvertes d'écailles irisées et dont le genre est indifférent.
Durant l'été 2017, la photographe a accompagné trois jeunes drag queens en pleine transformation, se préparant chaque soir à performer dans un cabaret du centre de Jogjakarta, sur l’île de Java.
Plusieurs heures de façonnage des corps et des visages pour une métamorphose finale mais éphémère.
L’exposition se compose d’images issues de cette série ainsi que de trois Totems.
L’animal-totem, ici le papillon, devient le théâtre symbolique de la métamorphose.
Célébrant et déployant cette idée de construction de l’identité par facettes, par glissements,
par mutation, une identité littéralement bricolée à la main : sourcils collés à la colle UHU, fond de teint appliqué en dizaines de couches sur l’épiderme, mousse glissée
sous les robes pour courber les hanches, superpositions de collants donnant du galbe
à une jambe, lentilles bleues apposées sur les iris. Les figures se dressent et nous racontent `leur histoire à travers leur corps diffracté, une histoire d’identité en construction que les sujets reprennent en main littéralement.
Ces mondes autonomes que sont les Totems de la photographe posent le pied à terre, s’incarnent et s’élèvent devant nous, nous invitant à recomposer notre perception du réel
et à imaginer d’autres narrations possibles.
***
Having explored the challenges of bodily transformation for many years through
her photographs of subjects directly affected by theatricality, staging and cross-dressing, Estelle Hanania is now applying the notion of metamorphosis to her own image production. She has developed a series of photographic totems, born out of a desire to regain control
of her photographic material and the need to give physical form to her stories.
Entitled ‘Green Sea Swallow Tail’, the series will be presented in February 2026 at the Project Room of the Suzanne Tarasieve Gallery. This refers to a rare species of butterfly from Southeast Asia with iridescent blue- green wings and an indifferent gender. During the summer of 2017, the photographer accompanied three young drag queens as they prepared each evening to perform in a cabaret in the centre of Yogyakarta, on the island of Java.
This involved several hours of shaping bodies and faces for a final, albeit ephemeral,
metamorphosis.
The exhibition consists of images from this series, as well as three totems. In this case, the animal totem is the butterfly, which becomes the symbolic theatre of metamorphosis. This idea of identity construction is celebrated and unfolded through facets, shifts and mutations: an identity that is literally handcrafted, with eyebrows glued on with UHU glue, foundation applied in dozens of layers to the skin, foam slipped under dresses to curve the hips and layers of tights to shape a leg. Blue lenses are also affixed to the irises.
The figures stand tall and tell their stories through their fractured bodies — stories of identity in the making, which the subjects have taken into their own hands. These Totems, the photographer's autonomous worlds, take root and incarnate before us, inviting us to reconsider our perception of reality and imagine alternative. narratives.
metamorphosis.
The exhibition consists of images from this series, as well as three totems. In this case, the animal totem is the butterfly, which becomes the symbolic theatre of metamorphosis. This idea of identity construction is celebrated and unfolded through facets, shifts and mutations: an identity that is literally handcrafted, with eyebrows glued on with UHU glue, foundation applied in dozens of layers to the skin, foam slipped under dresses to curve the hips and layers of tights to shape a leg. Blue lenses are also affixed to the irises.
The figures stand tall and tell their stories through their fractured bodies — stories of identity in the making, which the subjects have taken into their own hands. These Totems, the photographer's autonomous worlds, take root and incarnate before us, inviting us to reconsider our perception of reality and imagine alternative. narratives.
Galerie Suzanne Tarasieve
7 rue Pastourelle 75003 Paris
+33 (0) 1 42
Tues. – Sat. • 11 am - 7 pm & by app.
+33 (0) 1 42
Tues. – Sat. • 11 am - 7 pm & by app.
@: info@suzanne-tarasieve.com
suzanne-tarasieve.com
suzanne-tarasieve.com


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