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Personalities encased in Plexiglas

Between 2009 and 2017, Catherine de Saugy created a series of photographic portraits presented in a Plexiglas case—at once works of art and objects of memory. Commissioned by figures from politics, science, architecture, and art, these creations illuminate not merely a face but a life’s trajectory and each subject’s legacy.

Represented personalities

• Politics: Prof. Dusan Sidjanski, professor at UNIGE, founder of the Chair of Political Economy and adviser to Manuel Barroso at the Council of Europe.

• Architecture: Hervé Dessimoz, architect of the Mont Blanc refuge and CERN’s Globe of Science and Innovation.

• Art: Self-portrait by Catherine de Saugy and the enigmatic portrait WHO ?.

• Sciences: Prof. Patrick Aebischer, president of EPFL.

• Exploration and innovation: Bertrand Piccard and Prof. André Borschberg for the Solar Impulse project.

An exceptional technique

Each portrait is encapsulated within a perfectly polished block of Plexiglas (PPMA), measuring about 22–25 cm per side and 4–5 cm thick. The process is meticulous: the image—born of a staged photographic montage by the artist—is giclée-printed onto a first sheet, then sealed with a second, forming a transparent block that can be viewed from every angle.

The result of nearly one hundred hours of work per piece, this technique gives the works luminous purity, unique depth, and a timeless sense of preservation. The Plexiglas support is fabricated by Swiss artist Rolf Zweifel, a trusted collaborator of Catherine de Saugy.

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