The Pont du Gard
French photographer Maia Flore has a wonderful series titled ‘ImagineFrance’ in which she journeys through 25 historic sites around France.
Flore and her partner Jeremy Joseph traveled around France over 66 days last July, turning the castles, churches, parks and museums they visited into stages for her fantastically surreal photographs.
According to Flore, the project was commissioned by Atout France and Institut Français, and the requirement was that she add a fresh and contemporary spin on well-tread cultural sites.
Her photographs exude a playful and light-hearted spirit–she transformed herself into various characters and imbued grandiose landmarks with magical, surreal touches in the process.
One image shows her in the Gardens of Versailles surrounded by several figures covered in white cloths, while another depicts her arranging balloons in the waiting room of the Thermes du Mont-Dare baths in Auvergne.
They are accompanied by intriguing, behind-the-scenes stories written by independent art critic Martine Ravache, as well as charming anecdotes from Flore herself.
‘ImagineFrance’ opens today at the Emmanuel Fremin Gallery in New York City and runs til 24 May.
Check out some of Flore’s photos below and view the whole set here.
Gardens of Versailles
The Water Mirror, Bordeaux
The Citadel of Besançon
The MuCEM, Marseille
Pic du Midi
The Thermes du Mont-Dore, Auvergne
The Palais de Papes, Avignon
[via My Modern Met, images via Imagine France]