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We created PhotoVogue Festival Echoes to allow those who participated in the event to contribute their voices to the Festival s narrative. During those days in Milan, we recognised our community s desire to come together and draw inspiration from each other s works. We highly value the sharing of experiences and practices, firmly believing that providing dedicated space to each artist can appropriately acknowledge the outstanding projects exhibited in November at the PhotoVogue Festival.
In the episode number 4 of PhotoVogue Festival Echoes, Clara Belleville illustrates us her project ‘Entre nous,’ a series of photographs she took throughout the years, in which she captures her friends and people around her, when nothing exceptional or exemplar was happening. In her images we can glance at the quiet moments of existence that are often overlooked in the flux of experiences and fleeting instants. The naked bodies suspend the subjects in a timeless place, without precise connotations, in which everything can last forever in a blink of an eye. Within this seemingly unremarkable space, Belleville intercepts the profound meaning of the intimate journey we all undertake.
1. What is your favorite memory of the PhotoVogue Festival 2023?
First day. When I arrive to BASE and I realized the extent of the PhotoVogue Festival. It was my first time, and I didn’t know it was such a big community with such talents. I also liked when we did the group picture. That’s when I saw all the artists together, it was a great instant, the energy was beautiful.
2. About your project ‘Entre Nous’, you said that you collected all these moments “when nothing pivotal was happening”. In a world that tells you that the important things (and therefore existence) happen in big, defined moments, did you find it difficult to capture the subjects’ “existence in an instant”, as you said, or did it come up naturally?
Since I started to take pictures, more than 10 years ago, I ve always remembered photographing these moments. It came naturally, I was just attracted to it. I feel that when nothing happens it gives space and time for the soul to exist as it is and for the inner worlds to emerge to the surface. It s not easy to explain, it’s more something you experience.
3. In all your images, (naked) bodies have a central role. Could you tell us more about this?
In a project like this one which is a bit documentary, first you can’t always choose the clothes so they don’t always work. And most importantly they give informations about the person, about the year you’re in and it’s not always what I’m looking for. Naked bodies have something timeless and universal, that can tell stories like no clothes could. Of course I also like bodies for their infinite beauty.
4. Is there an upcoming project you are working on?
I’m still in the promotion of the book ‘Entre nous’ of this serie but yes of course, I have some more things cooking!
