Figures Version française
Photographs and makeup remover wipes, 2018 – 2019.
I am interested in the world of drag queens for the questions of identity, sex and gender that it raises. These performers deconstruct gender binarity by playing with masculine and feminine codes through creations free from any fixed sexual assignment. Their figures captivated me in their transformation phases allowed by cosmetic procedures and led me to take an interest in the makeup removal ritual.
After having watched and photographed their performances, I wanted to approach them behind the scenes, often cramped and poorly lit, in which the silhouettes, hairstyles and clothes are agitated and mixed. I seek to create a space between the model and me which allows me to focus on her face and to document this fleeting and intimate moment between two identities. I was honored for their collaboration and this privileged point of view which allows me to have access to the person who is behind the interpreter. The cleansing wipe collects the imprint of the stage mask, the last tangible testimony of a character living in an ephemeral dimension. It accounts for the cosmetic dimension that revolves around these blurred and transfigured figures of which only a vibrant trace remains - between an artist's palette and the relic of a Saint-Suaire.
A big thank you to : Babouchka Babouche, Cookie Kunty, Enza Fragola, Gazelle et Karma Von Lear, La Duchiasse, Mademoiselle Surprises, Minima Geste, Nadine Thaïland, Yuni Sekkusu and all the other wonderful drag queens that I’ve met but that don’t appear in this selection.