Ever wondered what Santa Claus gets up to for the other 363 days of the year? Photographer Florence Levillain has put herself in his shoes and illustrated the daily life of the childhood enigma. The descriptions accompanying her snapshots err on the side of naiveté, but she paints a tender, human portrait nonetheless.
In one, Santa loses his way and desperately consults a road map; in others, he goes to the barbers, takes a hot bath by the fire, meditates, goes sledging, takes selfies and chats with his best friend, Snowman. And like anyone else, Santa Claus has moments of reflection – from the roofs of Paris to the snowy slopes of Lapland, an often melancholy character emerges, exhausted by his oppressive notoriety and embittered by his own existential questioning. When he meets Darth Vader, he asks himself what good it has done him being the ‘goodie’. This is a far darker Santa Claus than our parents led us to believe.
This humorous exhibition under the arcades of Bercy Village-Court Saint-Emilion takes on notes of reportage and will warm the hearts of the young and old alike. The perfect respite from a Christmas shopping spree.
TRANSLATION: MEGAN CARNEGIE