The contexte

The Solensi association objective is to organize a network of solidarity covering children and families affected by HIV. They ordered to the artist Marc Pataut a documentary film about the children and their families.

The commission

The Solensi association has been based in Marseilles since 1993. State-approved since 1996, its objective is to organize a network of solidarity covering children and families affected by HIV. Duty staff answer the needs of the families : direct financial assistance, access to housing, legal support, assistance over basic foodstuffs, help and advice at home provided by volunteers, organization of outside activities for children at the drop-in day care centre... In order to enhance the image the children have of themselves, question the idea of difference, or again show life within both the association and the families to the outside world, the patrons took the step of calling on an artist. The work will have to emphasize the importance of the story and provide a frame of reference, but also show how reality and fiction can be combined to get a better grasp of any given situation.

The artwork

I first came into contact with these children during the course of a wall-climbing activity : first with the children, then with the parents. We bought a video camera, which circulated first among the children, then among the parents. With the help of this video camera, I accumulated images that speak of childhood, of the role of conversation between parents and children, and of their secret, imposed upon them by the opinion of others but also by the attitudes and ties that bind each person to his own history. Some children have AIDS, others don't, some adults have the disease, others don't. Some children have lost a parent, sometimes two. At the beginning, I didn't know anything. Little by little, some things were said, responsibilities for the words taken ; others not. Marc Pataut, 2003. All the images will then be viewed by the families, the artist and the patrons. The final edit of the film is a matter of collective participation.

Marc Pataut

Marc Pataut was born in 1952 in Paris. He lives and works in Paris. A graduate of the Paris école des Beaux-Arts (where he now teaches), he initially worked as a reporter and then also as a photographer for many years. In 1991, he participated in the creation of the Ne pas plier (Do not fold) association, which aims at creating, producing and diffusing images that have a meaning for nationally or internationally urgent causes or human subjects.