Agnès Geoffray & Vanessa Desclaux, image from the book  "Elles obliquent – Elles obstinent – Elles tempêtent" by Éditions Textuel
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06/25/2025 - 11/16/2025

Éditions Textuel 
 
 
 


 
Published by Éditions Textuel publishing house, this book brings together artist Agnès Geoffray and art historian Vanessa Desclaux around a haunting chapter of institutional history.
Labeled “deviant” or “lost” thousands of girls were confined by court order in state-run “preservation schools” between the late 19th century and 1951.
From these archives, Agnès Geoffray creates defiant, poetic images that capture both the control imposed on their bodies and their gestures of resistance. Vanessa Desclaux’s texts echo these visual narratives, weaving in other stories of struggle to restore voice and dignity to these so-called “bad girls".