Exposition

Laurence Bibot. Studio Madame

From an early age, children love changing their appear- ance, period or gender. They love looking at themselves in the mirror before performing in front of their pals or the family circle. They imitate everyone’s mannerisms or impersonate screen idols.

Children enjoy dressing up in disguise, rummaging through cupboards and attics in search of costumes, hats and other props.
Even when they are grown-ups, some people have re- tained that desire for role-playing, that fondness for disguise and the enjoyment of putting on make-up. It does happen that they even make a living doing it. That is the case for Laurence Bibot, whom we came to know as Miss Bricola with Les Snuls, and then in her shows such as Bravo Martine where the clichés follow one another, with the inflection, the tone of voice exposing the stereotypes; female stereotypes in this case.
This portrait gallery continues in other shows, Miss B or Sœurs Emmanuelle, between derision and homage, conveying a scathing humour and a keen power of ob- servation, before she produced Travestis, a documentary about the world of transvestites.

In recent years, working from television footage, Lau- rence Bibot has produced a series of short vignettes capturing female archetypes such as a shampooing girl, a headmistress, a nymphet, a 50-year-old housewife, a depressive or elated woman, but also well-known fig- ures, such as Barbara, Juliette Gréco, the Singing Nun or more recently Amélie Nothomb, where the making of her distinguishable big hat required a wealth of imagination. In this case, it does not involve impersonations but rather playbacks, with Laurence Bibot reproducing the movement of the interviewees’ lips, and wearing the appropriate costume in front of the appropriate back- ground setting.
Until now, these vignettes were available on social networks. They will be presented for the first time at the Museum of Photography. From May to September 2017, the Museum had hosted the exhibition En léger différé1 devoted to Belgian television, organised by Sonuma (Belgian audiovisual archives). Once again, Sonuma is the partner of Studio Madame while form- ing its humorous extension as a way of recycling the television picture.

Wigs, headscarves, anachronic glasses, floral blouses or Chanel suits all feature in her performance where the parodies are so successful that people sometimes barely recognise the comedian. To the delight of all and undoubtedly yours, here is Laurence Bibot, as she is.