Hélène Mauri
Nurse, photographer, artist, and creator of the project
After becoming a nurse in 2007, she studied photography atthe École nationale supérieure Louis-Lumière. She conceived the project *S’il n’y avait qu’une image* in 2013. After creating her first image, she became an active volunteer with the association Être là Grand Paris. In 2015, she specialized in palliative care by pursuing a university diploma, which she furthered with an inter-university diploma in 2018. As part of this program, she wrote her final thesis on the project S’il n’y avait qu’une image, analyzing the photograph of the boat taken in New Caledonia.
She has been visiting patients atthe Institut Curie every week since 2015, taking the requested photographs and managing the entire project. To date, she has taken 75 photographs for patients hospitalized in the oncology ward.
Degrees
Inter-University Diploma in Palliative Care, Catholic University of Lille, Summa Cum Laude, 2018
University Diploma in Palliative Care, Catholic University of Lille, 2015
Diploma from the École nationale supérieure Louis-Lumière, Photography Department, Summa Cum Laude, 2013
State Nursing License, 2007
Monograph
If There Were Only One Image, Editions LOCO, 2021
Acts of Care: Photographing, Chair of Philosophy at Hôtel-Dieu Hospital (APHP – ENS), Paris, December 2022
Discussion on the project and the exhibition *If There Were Only One Image*, Sotteville-lès-Rouen Library, February 2022
If There Were Only One Image, Saint-Vincent-Paul Hospital, Lille, December 2016
If There Were Only One Image, SFAP National Congress, Workshop D6, Dijon, June 18, 2016
Forum of Associations, Institut Curie, Paris, February 2, 2016
Awards / Honors
Poster Award, AFSOS Conference, 2019
Déclics Jeunes Grant, Fondation de France, 2016
Any d’Avray Special Nursing Award, 2016
First Prize for Creativity, SFAP Conference, 2016
Exhibitions
Les Massues Palliative Care Unit, Lyon, 2022
Sotteville-lès-Rouen Library, 2022
Valpré Convention Center, Ecully, 2018
SFAP National Conference, Tours, 2017
Saint-Vincent-de-Paul Hospital, Lille, 2016
The healthcare staff at the Institut Curie
Nurses, nursing assistants, nurse coordinators, and healthcare managers
They are the project’s primary partners. They identify patients who might be interested based on the length of their hospital stay and their health condition, and recommend patients for Hélène to meet. The photographs, paired with her text, provide them with an outside perspective and offer additional insight into the patients.