Françoise Janicot
Encoconnage
Françoise Janicot (*1929 †2017, France) was an abstract painter before she began taking photographs of her contemporaries in the 1960s. She photographed many people, including Julien Beck, Julien Blaine, William S. Burroughs, John Cage, Jacqueline Cahen, François Dufrêne, John Giorno, Charlotte Moorman, Esther Ferrer, Christian Prigent and Jean–Jacques Lebel. She also worked as a performer in 1969 and 1970. Later, she made films and videos about performance artists and sound poets.
Inspired by the sound poems composed by her husband Bernard Heidsieck, Françoise Janicot cocoons herself in her first live performance in thin rope, works herself free as a symbol of her isolated existence as a woman, mother and painter.
Courtesy Le Peuple Qui Manque, Paris