booktlet

Leg ends
I'm Camille Laporte, born 15 years ago, on November 23rd. I am very keen on art and that is why I intend to study design later. For the moment, I am a high school pupil in Aurillac, but later I hope to be able to go far away.
My self-portrait is a series of 20 small photos entitled “Leg ends”. My feet are shown in different guises (slippers, moccasins, rubber boots, with nail varnish etc.,), which reflect my humor, an idea or a saying, which are noted on the labels next to the photos. The background colour of each photo is related to the colour of the footwear. The photos are placed clockwise, in no particular order, along the base of the exhibition space walls. I have chosen to portray myself in this manner because feet can show the life story, the character, and the state of mind of everyone. Every foot is unique.
Some people are ashamed of their bodies and of their feet in particular, finding them ridiculous, even hideous. But everyone has to stand their feet, since we have to stand on them!
There are different customs regarding feet. In China, for over a thousand years, women had their feet wrapped tightly in bandages to make them as small as possible. The origins of this practice are legendry. The trend emerged in China in 950 AD, and was specific to the courtesans of the imperial court before gradually spreading to all social classes by the late eleventh century. Chinese education mainly imposed submission and social conformity. This practice restricted women’s freedom. The small size of the foot was synonymous with high social status and beauty. For the West, it symbolized the exotic and backward Orient. It is obvious that this practice was painful, but it was not until the Republic in 1911 that effective measures against it were taken. In the West, unlike in China, big feet are symbols of power and authority. Recently, the unexpected discovery in Clermont-Ferrand of a huge foot belonging to the colossal bronze statue (3.5 meters tall?) of an emperor has kept historians busy. The late 1st or early 2nd century statue could have been that of the Emperors Trajan or Hadrian. It would have been placed in the temple of the imperial cult, in the forum. It is the right foot, wearing a lace boot decorated with flowers and jewels, a row of palm leaves with seven alternately open and closed leaves along the crossed laces. The shoe reveals the toes. An eagle with outspread wings covers the thong between the fingers. The exceptional technical and aesthetic qualities of the foot show that it is unquestionably the work of a great master. The rest of the statues is missing, but the foot is already a splendid portrait of its owner! Cf.There is an extraordinary number of expressions linked to feet, like: “best foot forward”; “one foot in the grave”, etc., which would indicate that feet are rather more important than we would care to admit…