Below Zero water freezes. A fluid matter becomes a solid one.
Before birth, who knows what you are. When you start wondering about it, you already exist as solid matter. As far as metaphysics are concerned, you constantly live below zero.
It is a tough condition, though frost blossoms into amazing beauty. Down here: not a single minute without transformation. And it remains the only condition from which to imagine what something else would be like.

You will enter this world by the great door of blood. You will feel cold at first, but there might be blankets; a spoonful of songs, rain on the roof, pebbles and bikes, rough pencil on notebooks, birds in perfect flight, sleeping winter grass, lights on the street, solemn rivers, hope, fear, hope - courage. I know you will stand, since there is no other way.

Below Zero, Sator Siena, Siena (Italy), 2005

Below Zero est l'un de mes rares textes composés  en anglais. Il est d'abord né d'une série d’images que l'éditrice de Sator Print, la regrettée Jennifer Storey MacIntosh, m’a demandé d’accompagner d’un texte. Grâce à elle, j'ai eu le bonheur de participer à toutes les étapes de la création du livre, une édition limitée dont chaque exemplaire est signé.
Le résultat est une série d'aphorismes accompagnés de 70 encres de Chine basées sur l’observation de la figure humaine. Écrit pendant ma grossesse, le texte explore certaines des façons dont la conscience humaine défie les dimensions du temps et de l’espace sans pourtant  leur échapper.
​"Sous Zéro" réfère à notre esprit figé dans un corps, en-deçà de son potentiel d'expansion, un peu comme l'eau congelée. De manière vague, amusée ou poignante, je crois que nous abritons tous un être supérieur qui n'arrive pas à se manifester complètement, un peu comme des anges en exil sur Terre.

​Below Zero n'est pas disponible en libraire. On peut se le procurer en contactant Pascale.

Below Zero is one of very few pieces originally written in English. It was born of a series of images which Sator Print's editor, the late Jennifer Storey McInstosh, asked me to write around.  She included me in each stage of the book's creation, which resulted in a signed limited edition.
The result is a series of aphorisms accompanied by 70 life drawings in China ink. Written during my pregnancy, the text explores some of the ways in which a human mind overflows the dimensions of time and space, without ever escaping from them.
​"Below zero" refers to consciousness trapped in physical limitations, a bit like frozen water. Be it in a vague, amused or poignant way, I believe that we all carry around a superior being who falls short of its potentialities; like angels exiled on Earth. 

Below Zero is not available in stores. It can be ordered using the  contact form.