Four years ago, I had trouble finding funding for the stories I wanted to shoot abroad, so I looked for a French story to keep production costs low. Curious by nature, and a journalist by profession, I immersed myself in the world of sex, a world whose diversity I knew little about. I took inspiration from Richard Avedon’s series on the American West, where he used a white background. So I transported over 200 pounds of equipment with me and put together a traveling studio. I shot large-format photographs (4×5) on the legendary and discontinued Polaroid P55 film. This will allow me to feature life-sized prints for my exhibition.
Each photograph is shot essentially in the same way, with each person or group standing in the same light against the same neutral background. Like this, everyone appears on equal footing, and the eye can concentrate on the human subject. None of the images were retouched—this isn’t a fashion magazine, it’s a document of everyday life.
After spending thirty years focusing on conflicts around the world, I felt the need to see things a different way, and to celebrate the joie de vivre with “Sex, Love…” and “Peace.”
Eric Bouvet
Eric Bouvet was born in 1961. When he was nine years old, his parents woke him up in the middle of the night to watch man’s first steps on the moon broadcast live on television. This memorable event would lead him to become a photojournalist, and he joined the prestigious Gamma agency in 1981. Bouvet has worked as a freelance journalist since 1990, traveling the world to cover its major events and conflicts. His photographs have been awarded with numerous prizes.
