The work that I am submitting was painted from a press photograph, illustrating an agreement between two heads of state. Since the publication of this article, I have been particularly attentive when the notion of "agreement" was conveyed in the media, something that has happened a lot lately: ceasefire agreements (conflict in Ukraine), free trade agreements (Switzerland-China, transatlantic agreement), agreements on the environment (COP 21), nuclear agreement (Iranian)…
Each of these agreements ends with a handshake between two representatives, which seems to signify its success. This symbolic gesture interests me by its semantic and temporal ambivalence. A priori innocuous, it hides in reality both the acknowledgement of a current problem and a promise of a resolution to come. The handshake, symbolising that an agreement has been found, also tries to somehow signify that the first action has been taken.