Readers picks #304

Lili Vagne

“When I was 18, I felt a pressing need to get out of my comfort zone, to discover the world. Which is why I travelled as far away as I could – to New-Zealand, alone with my backpack. There, I shot thousands of pictures, both with digital and film cameras”,

says Lili Vagne, 22. Since then, the young artist has not stopped capturing the world in an “instinctive and experimental” manner. “I have been working on the notion of ‘unsaid things’ for 3 years now. I have been obsessed with this subject since I was a child, but have never managed to define it. Translating what is unsaid is not easy: one must illustrate something that has no face, no form, no colour, a sort of empty and silent bubble”, she tells us. Nowadays, the photographer works on the sense of touch, and our relation to matter. With a defined grain, she captures enigmatic moments and disseminates magic in her daily life.

© Lili Vagne

Wei Wei Chen

Originally from Taiwan, Wei Wei Chen now studies in Paris. The artist discovered the photographic medium when she was 19. “My grandfather offered me a Pentax film camera. Since the, I have treasured the beauty of capturing a moment and preserve it a a visual document. Photography instinctively translates my voice into images rather than words”, she tells us. Urban peregrinations, naked bodies, and wild landscapes fill her gallery of images. A collection of tender and peaceful instants. “Ordinary moments spark my interest the most. They are soft but full of power. They are hiding in our daily life quietly and waiting to be discovered. These time fragments slowly grow into our memories or dreams and this is when I take out my camera”, she explains. Through her productions, Wei Wei Chen challenges the viewer to imagine their own stories, to immerse themselves in this soothing world.

© Wei Wei Chen

Cover picture: © Lili Vagne