Written Texts

Agnès Geoffray and Vanessa Desclaux propose to examine the representations and writings concerning young women in the juvenile justice system, from the late 19th century to the present.  

Drawing on archival sources—particularly those of the Judicial Youth Protection Service in Roubaix—they will examine the concepts of delinquency, sexual morality, behaviors deemed marginal, and female bodies labeled as “infamous.” Seeking to shed light on forms of defiance and disobedience in the face of authority, they will explore the images and narratives emerging from the women affected by these “preservation” policies, proposing alternative ways of telling the story of their bodies and of the institutions that measure and confine them.

The challenge is to echo this long history in our present, in a poetic and political way. Their approach is guided by an ethical question: the need to try to give voice to the other, and to give voice to the gaps and silences. While history plays an important role for both of them, they wish to immerse themselves in the archives to express their storytelling potential through their visual, narrative, and curatorial work. Alongside a series of text-based photographs by Agnès Geoffray focusing on bodies that have been marked, measured, and cataloged, they are exploring the creation of a new performative form that brings texts and images into dialogue, as well as experimenting with how to arrange the work within the exhibition space.