Hugo Henry and Maud Levavasseur, our readers picks #279, question the notion of freedom. The former finds it in travels, while the latter represents it through nudity.
Hugo Henry
“Photography is the tool that makes me go on, it pushes me past my boundaries. It is not limited to mere travel restitutions, it questions my whole relation with my surroundings. It challenges the impact landscapes can have on me, and other people”,
Hugo Henry tells us. This young artist from Lorraine and based in Paris has developed a passion for excursions when he was a teenager, as he read Jack London, Jack Kerouac, Sylvain Tesson and Nicolas Bouvier’s books. After graduating from a bachelor’s degree in cinema and a masters degree in photography and contemporary art, he now produces “moving series” – results of his many trips. “Naphte, Ressac, Brûlure, Hâtif, Fragments… My series’ titles are influenced by texts, words and poetry. I invite the viewer to contemplate a different form of narration – the more I progress in my research, the more my documentary side is fading away”, he says. In Hugo Henry’s creations, mankind remains almost invisible. In their stead, rises wilderness – strong and romantic. Foreign lands, reminiscent – to the photographer – of freedom and introspection.
© Hugo Henry
Maud Levavasseur
25-year-old photographer Maud Levavasseur studied in and graduated from the Gobelins in 2018. Years of learning that trained her gaze and sensitivity, enabling her to capture her favourite theme with kindness: women. “I’ve developed a fascination for the body several years ago, when I was diagnosed with a back malformation. As I was trying to come to terms with it, I turned to selt-portraiture, I then decided I wanted to give other women the possibility to love themselves as well”, she tells us. Working with nudity, the artist wants to highlight feminine curves without sexualising them. With each model, she spends time talking. “Hearing their voices brings consistency to my work, I want to build an authentic relation with them”, she says. By capturing Salomé in nature, Maud Levavasseur built a sweet and liberated series. “Nudity must be desacralised. My series express a need to diversify this ‘landscape’, and broaden the sample of bodies represented”, the photographer concludes.
© Maud Levavasseur
Cover picture: © Maud Levavasseur
