Inmates of Bettina Rheims
The Hôtel de Lalande and the former prison being temporarily closed for renovation, the Museum of Decorative Arts and Design presents the exhibition Détenues by Bettina Rheims at the Mably chapter house.
Encouraged by Robert Badinter, to whom we dedicate this exhibition, the photographer Bettina Rheims realizes, between September and November 2014, Détenues, a series of portraits of women incarcerated within four French penitentiaries, gathered in a book published by Gallimard editions.
This project, supported by the prison administration, confronts the prison universe with that of artistic creation; in a complex dialogue, it questions the construction and representation of femininity in spaces of deprivation of liberty and imprisonment.
"I had to go meet women who hadn’t made the choice to live within four walls. We talked a lot. They told each other, and I tried to offer them a moment outside of that time." Bettina Rheims
The series Détenues offers a window for conversation with the sensitive and little-known universe of detention. These women photographed in prison, in an improvised studio, were able to engage with the photographer in a process of reconstruction of their female identity and begin work on restoring their image. To these women whose lives have been turned upside down overnight, Bettina Rheims gives back dignity and humanity for the sake of a cliché. It restores to each its personality that incarceration tends to erase.
Initiated by the Court of Appeal of Bordeaux, with the support of the patronage of Elisabeth Wilmers and the participation of the Conseil Départemental de l'Accès au Droit de Gironde, this exhibition is presented in partnership with the Institut pour la photographie (Lille, Hauts-de-France).
This work was the subject of a book, published in 2018 in the prestigious Blanche collection – grand format – by Gallimard editions, which brings together more than sixty portraits accompanied by a foreword by Robert Badinter and a text by Nadeije Laneyrie-Dagen.
It will be offered for sale by the bookstore La Machine à Lire during the opening on April 10 and the meeting on April 11 in Mably.
OPENING in the presence of the artist
Wednesday, April 10 at 6:30 PM - Mably chapter house, 3 rue Mably in Bordeaux
Free exhibition, accessible to people with reduced mobility and without reservation.
Open every day except Tuesdays and public holidays from 11am to 6pm.
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Bettina Rheims
Internationally recognized photographer, Bettina Rheims (born in 1952) began her career in the 1970s. She has since developed a personal work with multiple facets. From her first photographs of strippers in Pigalle (1981) to those of Modern Lovers (1990) and Les Détenues (2014), she questions the feminine and gender.
From the 1990s, she published several projects in collaboration with novelist Serge Bramly, notably Chambre Close (1992), I.N.R.I. (1998) and Rose, c'est Paris (2010). In 1995, she created the official portrait of President Jacques Chirac who awarded him the insignia of Officer of the Legion of Honor for all his work in 2007. She was promoted to the rank of Commander of the Legion of Honor in 2013.
In 2021, she entrusted the entirety of her collection to the Institute for Photography of Hauts-de-France in Lille.
The work of Bettina Rheims is present in numerous public collections in France and abroad. His work has been exhibited in prestigious contemporary art museums.
The Institute for Photography
Located in Lille, and initiated in 2018 by the Hauts-de-France Region in collaboration with the Rencontres d'Arles, the Institute for Photography is a place of exhibitions, resources, exchanges and experiments dedicated to photography. Its missions are to preserve and promote the photographic heritage, to disseminate photography in all its forms and uses, to develop the sensitive and critical experience of photographic images with everyone, to support research and creation, and to promote the photo edition.
In December 2023, the Institute closed its doors to make way for the rehabilitation and extension of its building. Until its reopening in 2026, it continued its activities outside the walls and continued to lend its funds on the occasion of numerous exhibitions, in France and abroad.
Metamorphosis of the MADD Bordeaux
Since May 2023, the Museum of Decorative Arts and Design has been under construction. This is a major modernization project led by the Antoine Dufour agency.
This ambitious architectural project responds to the environmental and heritage challenges involved in the restoration and rehabilitation of the former prison and the energy renovation of the Hôtel de Lalande, buildings that make up the museum, both classified as historical monuments. In view of the challenges facing museums in the 21st century, the project is reinventing itself to include MADD Bordeaux as an important player in the social and environmental transformations of the cultural landscape.
While waiting for its reopening at the end of 2025, the museum continues its activity and offers a program in the city and online.
Led by the City of Bordeaux, this renovation benefits from the support of the State, the Nouvelle-Aquitaine Region and a private sponsor.
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The museum warmly thanks
Élisabeth Wilmers for her loyal support
The Institute for Photography of Hauts-de-France
The Departmental Council for Access to the Law of Gironde
The Court of Appeal of Bordeaux
Intercontinental Bordeaux-Le Grand Hotel
Bookstore the Reading Machine
The museum thanks all the patrons and partners who accompany it during this period of renovation and who support it in the development of cultural programming.
Château Haut-Bailly,
patron of honor
DRAC Nouvelle-Aquitaine
Centre de Recherche et de Restauration des Musées de France
Les Amis du MADD Bordeaux, engagés aux côtés du musée depuis 1983
L'Association des Spécialistes de la Céramique de Collection
Château Nairac
Construction Verrechia et son fonds de dotation
Diva Bordeaux, société de négoce
Fondation d'entreprise Hermès
Fonds d'initiatives Lafite
Intercontinental Bordeaux-Le Grand Hôtel
La Halle des Douves
La Librairie Mollat - Station Ausone
La Philomathique de Bordeaux
Les Crus Bourgeois du Médoc
Opéra National de Bordeaux
Palais des Thés