"She Told Me" is an interactive augmented reality project that alters the perception of the city and the women sculptures in public spaces. These sculptures, usually silent ornaments of the town, begin to speak with the voices of its female inhabitants when viewed through a smartphone using the application developed for this project, replacing the object with subjectivity.
The project is implemented in Orléans, a city closely associated with a female figure, Joan of Arc.In addition to Joan's statues, there are other female statues in the city, such as the statue of the Loire, represented by a young girl. Like in many cities, these female statues serve as silent decorations of the urban space or sometimes represent symbols of desire.
"Elles m'ont dit" aims to change the perception of these female statues in the city. Instead of being passive decorations, they become active participants in the urban environment, allowing city residents to express themselves through them. Through the augmented reality provided via the "Elles m'ont dit" application installed on a smartphone or tablet, the statues come to life and speak with the emotions and voices of living people. After a call for participation, women from Orléans are recorded to share testimonies, stories, commitments, or viewpoints attributed to one of the city's statutes.
With the application, female statues in Orléans speak in augmented reality, telling the stories of contemporary women. Women's subjectivity will be reclaimed by themselves. The statues, as symbols of femininity, are imbued with new narratives, delivering in the public space the statements of a diverse range of women.
To gather testimonies from women in Orléans I also collaborate with local organizations that develop feminist or social approaches: Family Planning, Anim'Orléans network, CIDFF, Feminists of All Kinds, Feminist Offensive, 45 Tours de Poitrine, LaboMedia.
This project follows the tradition of "Herstory." This term describes a way of writing history from a feminist perspective. The term is a play on words in English, built from "her" (the female possessive) in contrast to "his" (the male possessive), and "history." The objective of her-story is to offer a vision of the past that highlights the role of women, whereas history, as usually found in books, most often reflects a male point of view (his-story).
Current work is in progress, I’m finishing in Orleans