In Albi, an exhibition of drawings tells the confinement seen from the window

It was almost two years ago. On March 17, 2020, the French faced the first confinement, forcing them to stay at home. The windows then become for those who have neither balcony nor garden, the only opening on the world. These moments of life inspired Thierry Pigeard: “We opened the window to have relations with our neighbors, to find out what was going on, to question the others” he remembers.

Moments that the graphic designer-illustrator decides to sketch. A marriage proposal, an aperitif with friends or more intimate scenes, “stories that we have all more or less experienced. Many have also been told to me by people” he specifies.

Like everyone else, restrictions oblige, the artist only goes out one hour a day with his sketchbook. Looking up at the facades, he discovers the architecture of his adopted city. “When I was walking in the streets, what interested me was to sketch the windows. They are all different from each other but at the same time, when you draw them they are a whole. They respond to each other” observes Thierry Pigeard.

Albi offers a whole range of medieval windows, which delights the illustrator. “There is a magnificent work of wood. The sculptures of the heads are superb and at the same time, it’s all wobbly. You become aware of it when you stay in front of it for a long time. Imperfections that I erase most of the time in my drawings” he concludes.

Exposure At the windows of Albi, in times of confinement. Until March 10, 2022 (Monday to Saturday). Brewery of the Prefecture, 16 Lices Georges-Pompidou, Albi.