Mon frère aimait beaucoup ce gâteau. – Mein Bruder mochte dieseN Kuchen sehr.

1 year, 10 years, 20 years, 35 years, 50 years and so on.

In our western society, celebrating birthdays is a common event. A ritual that took off in the early 20th century, especially from the 1950s onwards through marketing, it can be private, public or even official. Marking the steps in the life of an individual or a society, it is by nature connected to time and its calendar, to the philosophical "I", to life and death.
The commemorations and jubilees celebrated collectively are extremely diverse and highlight a historical event, an important person, a scientific invention, or many other occasions. They bring crowds together by offering a wide range of cultural and festive events. Those celebrations create a common sense of belonging to a culture, an institution or a society seeking a mass effect promoting the “us” more than the individual.

But privately, this social invention is essentially the celebration of one’s own birth date. Experienced and perceived in different ways depending on the individual and their context, it affects childhood in particular. According to the year and age, birthdays are more important than others and are celebrated more or less or not at all. Childhood joys, adult trauma, society's consumerism; there is no escaping this custom in the West.

Birthday celebrations are surrounded by many symbols and rites: the cake, its candles and its decoration are the most essential elements. Made especially for one person or entity but expected by all, it is the trophy of the event and takes on the appearance of a star at large ceremonies, attracting attention to all. It is a focal point and often becomes the very embodiment of the celebrated birthday.

But above all it is meant to be shared.
Cut into slices, it is eaten by many and mingles with the conversations of the party. It is the key moment of the ceremony when the candles are blown out, signifying that one's birthday has been consummated and their new year begins. Having eaten a piece of the cake solemnly includes us in this ritual and the souvenir pictures are testimony to this.

The project " Mon frère aimait beaucoup ce gâteau " is an approach to this idea of festive and collective sharing. By proposing that a moment experienced by a restricted circle be shared by all, it becomes a public celebration of a party between intimates.
The moment chosen for this party is the one of a photo found in an album. The moment just before the festivities begin, when nothing has happened yet, when the candles are still lit. That moment when everything is possible, when the cake is placed on the table ready to go on stage.
The image taken in the 90s is intended to be "poor", unframed, of average quality, made by an amateur. Its sole purpose is to be a souvenir. A common and accessible photograph, one that everyone owns, knows or takes at least once in their life. Cropped to a close-up only on the cake, it is also an image in which one can easily immerse oneself and imagine oneself around it out of focus. But where there would normally be a message of congratulations on the cake, there is only a monochrome almond paste medallion. The message having been erased, the cake slips a little more into anonymity leaving the possibility for everyone to make it their own.