Cécile Paris
is an artist who has lived and worked since 1970 in France. Her gaze sweeps the fields of our daily spaces: a country road, a building facade, a town and all sorts of other seemingly anodyne objects. Her films and photographs provide us with a plethora of ways of reading them, most often resulting in a feeling of hypnotic strangeness. Night-time in Nantes is inspiring her at the moment, for an exhibition at the Lieu Unique, while Kassel’s Kasseler Kunstverein in Germany is currently running her vision of « Ready-to-wear/Prêt-à porter ». For Crocodylus Ferragamo, born of a meeting between the artist and the famous Italian fashion house, Cécile Paris invites us to watch a pair of crocodile boots being taken out for a walk along a river.
Earliest memories
I must have been five years old. It was a pair of rubber boots, yellow, with a thin dark blue line. You can still get them today. My brother had the blue version with a thin yellow line. I preferred mine though. My brother always wanted to steal them from me when we went fishing with my father at the weekend.
First feelings
A pair of Camargue boots. I was fourteen years old and just adored these boots. They really made a particular kind of noise when you walked. They made me feel very confident. I still love them.
Last wishes
Choosing a pair of boots is complicated. I would like to have the same ones always and just wear them out. I like the idea that they just keep going and they get to see the world with me.