Serres Aerodrome 2021: Ordinary Angels
June to September 2022

Is it possible to see angels and receive their messages?
Etienne Renzo answers this metaphysical question through photography. His series on angels was inspired by Wim Wenders' film Wings of Desire, which tells the story of the angel Damiel, who loses his invisible immortal status in order to experience love and desire with humans.

But Etienne Renzo's angels fly lower than Wenders's. Captured in mid-levitation, they are very real. For these images are also portraits of humans who are literally trying to rise up in the sense of the photograph. Images that, beyond any religious or spiritual dogmatism, sanctify beautiful souls and beautiful people by restoring their aura.

Ordinary angels, in a way. Seeing and showing the ordinary angels within us today is to restore access to enchantment. Etienne Renzo explains: "Photographing angels is about rediscovering as much as possible the magic of everyday life and the wonder of life so that it does not fall into oblivion.

In this way, my photographs fulfil the task of angels. Revealing these images is my profane and imperfect solution to accomplishing a traditionally divine task." This is a salutary approach at a time of widespread disenchantment, to which photography can contribute by reconnecting with the invisible, as is the case here.

The stakes are high, as it amounts to restoring cosmological continuities in a fragmented and fractured world. Isn't that also the primary role of guardian angels?