FROM ENGLAND WITH LOVE - interview
Can you tell us how your move to England was the starting point for your photographic series "From England with Love"?
Moving to Bristol in 2011 gave me the opportunity to explore a country that I only knew from the places I'd visited through various opportunities. By settling in the country, I was able to experience it on a daily basis and start photographing it. The project didn't happen immediately. After several months, when I was editing my work, I realised that I had in front of me the embryo of a photographic project.
What struck you most when you started taking photographs in England and how has this influenced your artistic vision?
Through my photographs, I had the feeling that England was a country of great social contrasts. This observation was induced by the perception that from one environment to another, the social mix seemed to me to be weak and that consequently these places partitioned into communities conveyed a culture and social codes specific to one social category.
Can you tell us about the environments you chose to document the social aspects of England and why they were significant to you?
Based on this observation, I chose places and environments according to their social and cultural categories. Weston Super Mare is a seaside resort frequented by a working class population. The Cheltenham horse race and the Somerset agricultural fair convey a conservative culture. The City of London, progressivism, liberalism, conservatism, modernity and the Thatcherite era. The carnival district of St Paul's, a popular and multicultural England.
Taking as my starting point the cultural and social differences of these environments, I then wanted to contrast the images I had taken with each other to confront these moments in life in a candid and singular approach.
The title "From England with Love" evokes traditional postcards. Can you tell us why you chose this title and what it means to you?
The title "From England With Love" refers to the greeting that is usually affixed to the back of each postcard. For example From Paris With Love or From Benidorm with Love. Here the title From England With Love is a reflection of England at an X moment in its history. These photographs are intended to be a visual, social and cultural memory.
Each of his images can be viewed like a postcard. They tell readers their own stories, while the book as a whole constructs an image of England in the early 2010s. But they all have the same motto on the back, From England with Love.
How did you go about choosing the photographs for the book? How did you approach the process of sequencing the photographs to create a coherent story?
Regarding the editing, I worked with the Oblique’s team who make the photo magazine Epic. Jean Matthieu Gaultier did most of the editing. As editing is also a collective work, Eleonore Simon and Amboise Touvet brung their collaboration. I then added my own touch on photographs that I felt were essential. The sequencing of the book followed my desire to interweave the different series to create a personal portrait of England. As you read the book, you move from one environment to another, while maintaining a coherent series of images. Moments in life follow one another fluidly, and the book as a whole is characterised by an atmosphere that is unique to England.
Can you tell us about the collaboration with the publisher or the book design team?
I had complete confidence in Jean Matthieu for the graphic design of the book. As well as the rhythm provided by the different sizes of photos and the sequencing, the book is also punctuated by a few British quotations that enrich the reader's experience. I'll let you discover them as you read the book.
The mauve colour of the cover is reminiscent of some of the facades of English houses such as those in the Cliftonwood area of Bristol, where I lived for 3 years.
Finally, where will readers be able to get hold of the book, and have you planned any exhibitions or events linked to its publication that the public can anticipate?
The book is currently available for sale on the crowdfunding page. It is also available in the shop section of this website. It will soon be distributed in specialist bookshops in Paris.