It is with a special emotion that I present to you my photographic and literary book: RAFAËL. This campaign invites you to pre-order the book.

This art book is self-published: so that the book can exist, I need your support!

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Here is the story of my son Rafaël, born in 2020 with a facial malformation: a cleft lip and palate. Perhaps it would be more accurate to admit that this is also my story as a wounded mother, trying to support her son in the best way possible. Finally, it’s our story I am sharing with you.

This photographic diary traces the beginning of our family journey up until Rafaël’s third birthday: between crucial surgeries and lighthearted moments of life.

Our struggles, our sufferings, our fears and our joys.

The act of photography has become a healing process.

"Reading the words that Charlotte Audureau monologues, and absorbing the images her photographic eye composes, a pure declaration of maternal love emerges, born from a physical wound.

But the words and images offered here go beyond that."

Extract from the Foreword by Professor Devauchelle

The Book: A Tool for Transmission and Education

The photographic book became an obvious and necessary choice for me.

I photograph and write about our daily life to navigate through it with clarity. Photography allows me to become one with life to avoid vertigo and fog. I chose to write this book, first and foremost, for Rafaël. So that, in the future, he can know the path we have walked and be proud of it.

But I am also doing it for all of you:

Caregiving parents and children born with clefts, and for all families facing complex medical situations. I sincerely hope that this life testimony will give you strength. Sharing our lives gives us wings!
Medical professionals: so that you can read our gratitude and the complexity of the emotions in daily life.
Photography lovers: As a professional photographer, I have been working for over ten years on themes like the body, movement, physical injuries and emotional wound. This book naturally follows that continuity, but with a particularly intimate and documentary approach. It is a slow and introspective process made possible through the use of a special object close to my heart: a medium-format film camera, a Rolleiflex. This object was found in the family garage and was given to me just before getting pregnant. There is no coincidence; this symbolically powerful object invites me to carry on the family’s memory.
Relatives, friends, or strangers: this book also aims to make this malformation visible, as it is underrepresented and little known. Sharing our battles means informing others, fighting misunderstandings, breaking our loneliness, and coming uniting for greater understanding. It is a personal story of family resilience.

—> The book is a precious, immortal object, a witness of life.

It is an object of our story that you can read in the comfort of your own home, in your personal space. I hope it will echo your stories, whatever they may be, as it is ultimately about transmission, love, brotherhood, anger, healing, and hope.

Extracts from the book

Note: The images in the book are 3D simulations.

Manufacturing Details

Format: 22 x 22 cm

140 pages

53 photos – Film photography, black and white

6 drawings by Rafaël – in color

24 texts – wrinting like a personal diary

Removable translation booklet in English or Spanish available on demand

The books will be printed in France by a renowned, high-quality printer: Escourbiac

A limited edition of 500 copies, signed and numbered

Note: The images in the book are 3D simulations.

Dates

October 31, 2024: End of pre-sales
November 25, 2024: Book printing
End of January - beginning of February 2025: Book delivery

I hope to have the opportunity to personally hand you this book at an event at the end of January 2025 (details to be determined) or during an individual meeting, if you prefer in Paris/France. Delivery is also possible.

Support

- Masterclass OeilDeep / Photographic Creation Guidance 2023-2024: For 6 months, I had the privilege of being guided to complete this book project.

This project was unveiled during the Rencontres d'Arles Festival 2024, in the form of a video at the Ortiz Foundation.

Project supported (non-financially) by La filière Tête et Cou (a national organization certified by the Ministry of Health) and MAFACE : Centre de références des Fentes et Malformations Faciales.

The APFFP Association (Association for individuals with facial clefts and their parents)

FILIERE SANTÉ MALADIES RARES TeteCou MALFORMATIONS RARES TETE COU DENTS OEILDEEP MAFACE

October 18, 2024: I will be present at the Imagine Institute (Necker Hospital) in Paris for the National Day of the TETECOU Rare Diseases Health Sector, with a beautiful stand and a prototype of the book! I will be happy to exchange with you.