In 2015, I began experimenting with a specific technique using optical filters to reveal tattoo details, blending a documentary and portrait-based approach.

Each image was a unique encounter, a singular vibration. Then, one day, AQUATIC #0 emerged. The shot presented itself to me with unsettling clarity. But it was with AQUATIC #1 that I experienced a revelation. The person photographed, beyond her beauty and softness, appeared to be transcended in the final image, almost mystical.

A shaman friend gave form to what would become the theme of the AQUATIC series: feminine energy, a gentle yet determined force capable of rising with grace from troubled waters and radiating outward. It echoed a dream I had just days earlier: a woman suspended in weightlessness, drifting between two waters, hesitating between the abyss and the surface. Ultimately, she chose light. She chose life.

I committed myself fully to this project and invited any woman who wished to participate. Each one offered me more than a portrait. She gave a fragment of her personality, an intimate revelation. These exchanges moved me deeply and marked the beginning of a silent and profoundly sincere dialogue between them and me. From these sessions emerged a reflection on femininity: soft, powerful, luminous, and mysterious.

For a year, I shaped AQUATIC as an immersion into a dreamlike world, floating between the real and the imagined. Each image aimed to transcend nudity in order to reveal presence and character. Bodies in weightlessness, fluid and vertical, symbolize natural balance and a movement toward light. The series speaks of freedom, emancipation, and resilience. Every woman who appears becomes an icon, unique in her aura, her individuality, her essence. Together, the plural woman invites the viewer into an aquatic world.

When I first exhibited AQUATIC in 2016, one moment shook me deeply. A woman stopped in front of AQUATIC #8, frozen with emotion, tears falling down her face. For her, that image symbolized her reconstruction, a difficult and intimate path toward rebirth. That moment, like many others, gave a profound meaning to this work. In 2017, the exhibition of thirteen canvases in the heart of the Chapelle St Anne in Arles felt truly magical.

Since then, more than 4,000 people have discovered AQUATIC in France, the United States, and Japan. The responses have been overwhelming, reflecting the universality of the feminine energy that continues to fascinate me. This primordial force, which I deeply admire, nourishes my research and inspires me. As Michèle wrote so beautifully, «Feminine energy is a primordial force of our world, a fundamental part of all that is. It gives birth to life and flows within each of us. Without it, we would not exist as souls or as human beings.»

This feminine energy, with its movement, radiance, and diversity, is the beating heart of the series. I see it as a force of balance and transformation, a breath that brings light where it once seemed to fade. Within these seemingly similar images, individuality emerges. Each woman is a singular icon, embodying her own aura and identity.

Created to be printed on canvas (90 x 90 cm), the images reach their full physical and sensory potential in the exhibition space. The texture of the canvas, combined with a technique I developed, makes the figure appear to rise in three dimensions, as if emerging from the surface of the painting.

The installation is completed by an original soundscape that accompanies the photographs, inviting the viewer into a meditative state, as if immersed beneath the water’s surface.

This series has changed the way I see, and more profoundly, it has changed me. When I met the shaman again, I realized that an inner path had opened. Through introspection, I discovered a more grounded, healthier sense of femininity within myself. The creativity and sensitivity I now feel are the fruit of that transformation.

AQUATIC is, for me, an emblematic series. It celebrates femininity in its most universal and intimate form and offers viewers a moment of reflection, an invitation to encounter themselves. It is a vibrant tribute to these women, to their strength, their light, and to the primordial energy that lives in us all.

About Francis Malapris

Francis Malapris is an artist who navigates the boundaries between technique and emotion. With a background in engineering, he discovered photography at the age of 28, transforming his initial need for structure into an aesthetic and poetic pursuit. Inspired by figures such as Raymond Depardon, Rafael Minkkinen, and Daido Moriyama, he developed a distinctive style where each image becomes a place of tension between light and shadow, presence and absence, revealing the human experience in its complexity.

His AQUATIC series marks a pivotal moment in his artistic journey. By immersing his subjects in water, he dissolves the lines between reality and abstraction. Bodies appear suspended between wakefulness and dream, embodying a femininity that is both universal and singular. Presented at the European Festival of Nude Photography in Arles, the series evolved into an immersive installation where each photograph transcends its visual frame to offer a meditative experience on identity and memory.

This exploration continues with La Personne-Intérieur (2019), a publication delving into the intimate connection between photographer and model. It reveals the silent dialogues that emerge during the creative process, capturing the intensity of shared moments with striking sensitivity. In 2020, prompted by the pause of the global pandemic, Malapris incorporated artificial intelligence into his practice, creating digital personas like June and Simone Primevere—imaginary figures challenging the notions of reality and presence in an increasingly virtual world.

For Francis Malapris, humanity is an inexhaustible material. Observing bodies, capturing movement and emotion, means seizing the very essence of existence. His photographs explore the interplay of personal shadows and light, blending documentary insight with poetic vision. His work invites collectors to engage in a profound visual meditation on identity, memory, and the enigma of being. [Official Website]