the discovery of gotland island in september, 2009 marked a major phase in the work of grégory abou which saw in it the replica of his mental landscape. the cinematrographic vividness of the surroundings inspired the artist and he returned the following winter, in 2010, with a double project: photograph a second time the island, now totally covered with snow and inanimate, and film the space, with a sole character present, the artist himself, who appears and disappears in the field. “are you there” wonders the artist, questioning his own presence in this icy space. with his first photographic editions of september 2009 in hand, he tries to unfold them under the gaze of the device succeeding in raising our awareness of the fragility of our existence in his island retreat where time seems still. the result of his approach seems to confirm the beginnings of the project. appearance, disappearance, absence, void, traces of presences… so many contradictory themes initially mentioned by the artist. the project consisting in a series of photos and a movie, draws up an oniric and mysterious portrait of the hostile-weathered island, but protective under its thick layer of smooth snow. an absolute peace exudes from captured images almost revealing the intimacy of the artist. it answers the man’s need to isolate himself, far from increasingly dense, sophisticated, connected, overpopulated and noisy cities. the project was presented at slott in december 2010.