Australia • Born in 1962

Metamorphoses

Karl Lagerfeld said that she revealed beauty where beauty was terribly absent. Most of all, Vee Speers is one of those photographers whose works are instantly recognisable. Born in Australia and now living in Paris, she has been a presence in the art world for decades. Her oeuvre has been exhibited dozens of times around the world, and she has had works acquired by some of the most prestigious public and private collections. She is also a member of the very exclusive club of (very) great portraitists - an often-hackneyed art form which she attacks with a combination of flair and meticulous attention to detail, orchestrating a universe to which only she holds the key.

The selection exhibited this year at La Gacilly, drawn from four of her recent series, explores her reflections on the female body: its evolution, sometimes its rebirth, and above all its relationship with the natural world. Femininity isn’t a new topic for Vee Speers. Since the early 2000s it has been a constant theme in her work, with her remarkable monograph Bordello having launched her career. In charcoal tones of black and white, with a blurred focus that constructs and deconstructs her subjects, the artist has evolved toward a new style where timeless symbols forge powerful, evocative stories on the women.

Never afraid of pushing boundaries, she takes us on an emotional journey with portraits closely associated with the forces of nature, at the crossroads of nostalgia and the contemporary. Her faded, almost old-fashioned tones mark the passage of time like a kind of illusion suspended among memories of a tragic event. A tragedy in the midst of which hope is reborn, like a phoenix from the ashes. Like the eternal metamorphoses.

LE BOUT DU PONT

Thanks to the Galerie XII in Paris.