Describe yourself in 3 words
I A M
http://genius.com/Iam-un-bon-son-brut-pour-les-truands-lyrics
How do you process when doing a shoot?
The idea mostly comes out spontaneously. I gather the people I wanna have in front of my camera (mostly friends and acquaintances). The hardest part is always to find a date since everyone is busy 🙂 Every thing else is just intuition.
What inspires you ?
Everything. If you open your eyes while wandering through this world, you’ll find beauty in everything. And as cheesy as it sounds: It’s true. Don’t trust people who don’t like chees(e)(y).
When did you decide to become an artist?
Am I an artist?
Beauty standards spread by media are really destroying the self-confidence of a lot of little girls out there. And that makes me sad, angry even. So yes, showing diversity through my work is my main goal.
Whats the importance of diversity in your life/work ?
Diversity is everything to me. I’m half black and half white and I grew up missing pictures to look at, where I could recognize myself. I’m pretty happy the internet opened doors for everyone to create! I uses to spend hours on Tumblr just to find pictures I could identify with…The worldwide web opened doors for me. I see it as a chance! When I was younger I would go through my mums magazines such as Marie Claire, Gala, Elle and the only beautiful women I would see would be these blonde, blue eyed beauties with wavy hair smiling at me on paper. I used to dream that I was white so my school crush would finally fall in love with me…Well, that’s when you notice how the beauty standards spread by media are really destroying the self-confidence of a lot of little girls out there. And that makes me sad, angry even. So yes, showing diversity through my work is my main goal. Different colors, shapes, places. Because in the end, we are all different and that’s what makes each of us unique and beautiful. The world has to wake up and stop prioritizing human over human.
Who’s your dream collab ?
Frank Ocean. For a long time I would have said Juergen Teller…I like his style and I use the same camera. But now there are so many upcoming photographers that I discover everyday on Instagram! My favorite one is Dafy Hagai. I would love to work with her. And Ashley Armitage. Also fav! She recently added me on Instagram and I got excited like a 5-year old. haha!
What’s the best advice you’ve been given?
We were drunk. It was 8 in the morning on a winter saturday somewhere in Berlin and this guy – he was a saxophone player with red hair and the biggest glasses – told me “it’s not the chances you take, it’s the choices you make”. Back then I decided not to go back to Paris to finish my studies in politics and to stay in Berlin and do whatever. I had no plan, just a feeling that it was the right thing to do!
What does “girl power” mean to you?
I can’t hear this word anymore. Everyone uses it and it starts really to piss me off. What was suppose to stand for change sounds like a commercial slogan now. Power is power. The positive meaning of girl power is that girls should, as well, have the opportunity to do things, say things and just exist. Girl power means “give the girls their power back”. There are still way too many inequalities between men and women and it’s fucking 2016. So girls, go out there, take what’s yours and rule the world. But don’t forget to be kind, humble and warm while doing so because everything else would just be a use of power.
What is your goal as an artist?
I can’t change the world, but at least I wanna change my world.
Scott Adams said “creativity is allowing yourself to make mistakes. Art is knowing which ones to keep”. What do you think ?
I don’t know who Scott Adams is. Is that bad? haha! I love this. Making mistakes is the essence of life. That’s how you learn, how you grow, how you become better. A better person, a better human being. It’s a movement, like the waves. Everything is wavy.
