Hybrides 1

The Museum of Natural History offers a definition of the phrase « Natural history » : « Historically, it is the inquiry, the description of all that is visible in the natural world – animals, plants, minerals. » The definition has evolved because, according to the museum, « Natural history today is the study of the diversity of the living world and the mineral world and its interactions with man. It is about understanding how this diversity constructed itself and what its dynamics are. » Having always been concerned by man/animal/environment connections, François Lelong has worked on this interweaving through hybridization of certain mammals directly confronted to man, more specifically big game.

A first series devoted to Cervidae shows forest animals and plants, closely linked in their biotope, interweave and hybridize. Wood and fallen branches picked up in the forest, collected skulls in thickets and hunting remains compose new and singular equilibriums where antlers and foliage find some form of correspondance. This new interpretation of interdependence also acts as an echo of the way man considers wild animals.