With Relever la nuit, I explore light radiation, which is fundamental to photography, as well as the impact of our contemporary lifestyles on ecosystems. On moonless nights, photosensitive paper is exposed in different locations in French-speaking Switzerland for the same length of time, creating light pollution maps. The result is monochrome images in different shades of gray, created by the glow of artificial light on the outskirts of towns and villages.

In Switzerland, it is no longer possible to observe natural nighttime darkness. The records echo a 2019 study by the University of Geneva on light pollution in the Geneva basin based on nighttime aerial photographs, which resulted in a map of the region’s nocturnal ecological network. In this project, I combine the role of photography as an aid to science with the notion of evidence and imprint usually associated with photography. I document the disappearance of night using different photographic registers, noting that darkness no longer exists, masked by endless light. It is through the clarity of photosensitive paper that night reveals itself, a paradox inherent in the photographic process.

This work is the winner of the 2022 grant for the realization of a documentary photography project in the city of Geneva (FMAC).