Margaux Senlis was born in October 1995 in Paris. She got her first camera at ten years old and hasn’t stopped making images since. She carried out a BA degree at the Gobelins in Paris in 2018 and is currently studying a master’s degree at the ENSP in Arles. Photography is for her a communication strategy. Pushed by the will to grasp stories and meaning behind them, she is willing to sensibilise other people on subjects that touch her.
To lighten the storytelling of the project presented, the photographer developed a narrative approach through still life and representations, symbolising her sensitivity to the issue turning the communication into a metaphor.
About ‘UXO’-– words by Margaux Senils:
UXO stands for “Unexploded Ordnance”. This photographic project is a testimony to the danger that persists after the Vietnam War. There is still a lot of non-cleared areas in Vietnam as well as in Laos and Cambodia. Landmines still do explode today. Most of the victims are children, workers or farmers.
Four years ago, I traveled to Cambodia and discovered many minefields. After doing some research, I realized there are still many land mines in the ground that injure and kill today, despite 40 years since the Vietnam War and many civil wars. Upon returning to France I decided to do some more research and plan a project around these unexploded ordnances. I returned to Laos, Cambodia, and Vietnam in order to bear witness to the dangers that persist with UXO with my means of communication, photography. I wanted to visit during the rainy season because, when the water floods that area, a lot of landmines and bombs are unearthed and displaced. This is the reason why I did often photograph water, seen like a conductive thread in my project.
