(ou ma muse féroce)
This photograph collection was born out of my desire to photograph the one who represents “la femme” (the woman) for me.
She is the one who transforms my thoughts into instinctive urges and extreme acts. My point of departure was the almost decontextualized portrait, having a uniform background where we can imagine the space that is not extremely clear.
I drew my inspiration from Richard Avedon and his own method to approach the subject. Apparently, Avedon used to leave his models waiting for hours, while he was preparing the lights on the set. As a consequence, the subjects had time to familiarize themselves with the environment and the camera. Once they became completely themselves, as spontaneous as possible, and they didn’t expect it Avedon took the picture. That was how he captured their souls on the film.
I wanted Lady-A to live the same experience throughout her own pregnancy. She and my camera learned to know and love each other, and once we were in a perfect symbiosis, I decided to switch from 35mm (light and fast and perfect for the first contact because it was more discreet) to 6×6, a square size (which is more important, deep and appropriate for such a beautiful body). Therefore, in a very classical frame during a whole afternoon, she gave me all her eroticism, her sensitivity and her ferocity through a posture, a gesture and an expression so private and personal that at that moment we forgot who we were.
I believe pregnancy has a direct relationship with creation in general, but I have always thought that it has also a close link with all that is incomprehensible regarding the birth of a work of art. In our society where money is the most important goal because success is represented by that, to be a parent is a very radical choice just like to be an artist. To follow your instinct is unreasonable but it is necessary at the same time, and human beings will never stop to do that.
Art and pregnancy are both mysterious and vital at the same time. As creation and art are so closely connected, I felt the need to mix the three portraits with other images that remind me of pure artistic creation, namely sculpture, and a clear spiritual elevation (untouchable nature) that this purity claims. With these 8 pictures the collection makes sense. The sense of the silence before the chaos…
Lady-A is therefore a woman but also a reflection on creation, on its force and its unreasonable power which is the only thing that allows us to progress in this awful word…