The exhibition title, beyond its mysterious and poetic character illustrates indirectly and not without humor the swift transformative and transdisciplinary spirit which characterizes Etienne’s approach and use of photography in his body of work. Legerdemain is indeed a seldom used English word derived and aggregated from a French locution (“léger de main” id est literally light with one’s hands) characterizing the skillful use of one’s hands when performing conjuring tricks.
The word Legerdemain which can be associated to synonyms such as prestidigitation, wizardry, illusion, dexterity or trickery is also sometimes used in finance to characterize metaphorically a sleight of hand.
