Comme moi (just like me)

Papa : « Tell me a story, Gabriel.»Gabriel : « Dad, Mom, Eugénie, Pauline...»(personal audio record, 1988)

(Just l ike me)

The story told here May have never happen.It’s always the same thingA story of banality.It looks like winter.

Everything is a fiction

Christmas Eve’s sunsetIn the Dinnig roomThings look like slowBut the pale light dazzles.You may remember the atmosphereBut not the people there.

As if Momsnd Dadnever met.

This is like the arbitrary times when you do not exist.Not yet.But you can easily imagine it.

It looks like a succession of senseless events.

The light looks the same everywhere out there.This is so long. Stop eating for the picture.A never ending evening.

It is as if Mom and Dad never met.But they did.

They had a daughter named PaulineOn that day, Mom’s bed was covered by newspapers.Viet Nam war was over.

Dad drove through the streets, yealing « I am a Dad now ! ».

They had a daughter named PaulineOn that day, Mom’s bed was covered by newspapers.Viet Nam war was over.

Dad drove through the streets, yealing « I am a Dad now ! ».

Pauline is my oldest sister.

She made the couple turn into a family.

It is hard to imagine PaulineAs a little girl.The are only picturesTo make this become possible

There were just Mom, Dad and Pauline.Dad put a swing-set inside of the apartment, Between his office and her bedroom.

Then Eugénie was born, during November 79.

She arrived earlier than expected.Time was missing and nobody took any a picture.

During those nights, feeding Eugénie,

Dad and her learned to know eachother

From that time, it was hard for him to sleep.

Pictures build a memoryThat belongs to nobodyYou get the feeling that you remember moments That you never experienced.

Dad and Mom’s bedroom ;Our house,our street,Our own room...

This period, when you to not yet existSeems to be an endless winterYou do not know whereLight,Clouds,Trees, UpAnd downCome from.

Thus, that weird universe is not like Mom’s belly..

Thus, that weird universe is not like Mom’s belly..

Winter became colder.

It began snowing, on a Tuesday MorningI do not remember.

My world became full of people.

Knowing the day of my birth, Dad said : « just like me ».

It was in March.For his Birthday, Dad had a baby boy.And on that very dayEnglish mlinors ended their one-year-strike.

From that day, and forever, Eugénie and Pauline were 5 and 9 years older than me.

An evening Eugénie asked, if my name was Gabriel Because, fom inside Mom’s belly, i was praying : « Hail Mary...»

On pictures, bath or baptism are not differentEach event of this life is abstract...

You do not recognize the faces.

Winter was ending.

Winter’s leafs, branchs and treesWere still burningIn the garden.

So we went outside.

Pictures : Gabriel Coutagne and famiy picturesLayout and Postproduction : Gabriel CoutagneTexts : Gabriel CoutagneTranslation : Gabriel CoutagnePrinted in April 2011

Originally edited in June 2010 at ENSLL (French National School for Photgraphy, Film and Sound), Paris, France.

© Gabriel Coutagne 2011