Retour aux sources, 2003
See also “à…à…aaah!” (2003)
In her series “à…à…aaah!” from 2003, a remarkable photographic allegory on the illusory nature of art, Torfs combines the theatrical principles of storytelling, role-playing and mise-en-scène. In “Retour aux sources”, the younger of two boys is gazing in the the blank pages of a book, still waiting to be written. The older boy stands in front of an empty projection screen, as he stoically looks out of the picture. Dressed in an all white Pierrot costume, he personifies innocence. It becomes clear that “Retour aux sources” unites the themes that lie at the heart of Torfs’s work: the projected image, the search for origins, and the cold realm of a staged story.