• When: 6th to 11th of March 9am-12am and 1:30-5:30pm
  • Where: Centre d’Art Citadines

To participate in the project in drawing the photography of the Banyan tree please contact centredart@auroville.org.in or cedricbregnard@gmail.com


It was to meet the banyan tree that Cedric Bregnard returned to Auroville. 10 years after his first stay, the Swiss artist has an appointment with the monumental banyan which reigns in the gardens of the Matrimandir. For years Cedric has immortalized trees around the world, specimens ancestral of different essences, of these sacred beings who graze immortality.


What was initially an individual photographic project has changed over time and circumstances into a collective performance. With Cedric’s advice, the public is invited to draw on a large picture of the tree by intervening in black ink on the light screen per-existing impression. The artist becomes the initiator of an almost academical link with matter.


Over the next 8 weeks the Center d’Art gallery will house the performance titled Roots of the sky ⵣ.

On its walls, like an immense fresco, a photographic panorama representing the banyan in shades of tenuous gray will welcome the public who will be invited to participate.
Anyone who wants to (no need to be an artist, we are all creators, says Cedric), will then be able to enter a particular space/time where they will have to “writing” on the skin of the tree, restoring it in all its presence. “It’s a physical encounter – explains Cedric – the spirit of the tree remains imprinted on the film. By intervening on the shadows, we bring out the light, by getting lost in the infinite details of bark or leaf texture, bring it back to life, out of the time.” Extract from an article by Dominique Jacques / Centre d’Art

About: Cedric Bregnard Amazed by the Cycles of nature, I have always been interested in its metamorphosis and its singular beauty. I started my work in photography with the human life cycle. In 1998 I finished my training at the Ecole de Photographie de Vevey producing a series of photographs of deceased people; this work, Passage, was carried out in the greatest respect and through the kindness of a nursing home, unique in Switzerland by its quality in palliative care. I was then drawn by the resemblance between the cycles of human life and those of nature. Over the course of more than ten years, I have achieved several photographic series on the growth of plants starting from their seeds. It was in Japan, in 2010, that these series took off, during an exhibition created after an invitation from the Spiral Art Center of Tokyo. This made me realize how my interest in looking for multiple representations of those seeds’ life cycle reflected my desire to contribute to reconnect people to their natural environment. Residency timeline: 1st Feb to 31 march 2023

To know more about Cedric’s work:
https://www.instagram.com/racinesducielperformances/?hl=fr
https://www.racinesduciel.com