Everything is fluidity, impermanence or in transition in Anne-Sophie Guillet’s work: this is the stamp of an approach that is both introspective and contemplative, taking the time to sketch out her ma- jor obsessions.
Situated at the heart of the series Inner Self, the unfathomable enigma of human identity is one such concern. From 2013 to 2018, Anne-Sophie Guillet has patiently built up a series of thirty-four photographs of androgynous-looking young people. Most often chance encounters in her daily round, they attracted her attention thanks to the way they seem to escape from the binary, normative model of man/woman. Whether the effect has been aesthetically enhanced, or else there is an ongoing hormonal treatment, they all convey “gender trouble”. Their face-on portraits seem draped in a heavy silence; however, there is nothing mute about them. Instead they question how an identity is constructed and represented in front of the Other. [Text : Marie Chênel, 2018] [Official Website]
My series emerge from reconsideration on perceptions and interpretations of representations. With the ‘Inner Self’ series, my interest is to raise questions, participate to put in light and fight for the respect of the rights of people with non conforming identities.
Through these portraits I try to show that there are several ways of living our condition as human beings.
