A fashion and portrait photographer for the past ten years, I was drawn to do this series three years ago. It gave me the oportunity to approach the nude and to work with the feelings and ambiguity of persons revealing their intimacy. This is in contrast with classical nudes, where the face disappears behind a beautiful body lacking a personality.
La loge des rats was born of the idea I had for a series where I could work with non-professional models, many never having posed nude, or even posed at all. This gave more truth to the story, and a kind of modesty and embarrassment, trying in this way to recreate the atmosphere of some audition or the first night of a show. And finally, it gave me the chance to work with models with different physiques, and in particular models whose physiques are different from today’s typical model.
The choice of time period is an attempt to show the parallels between the present day and the 1920s. Indeed, the current economic crisis reminds one of the Great Depression, which led people to change professions, while the prohibition led to an increase in the number of illicit cabarets and speakeasies. On the one hand there was strong censorship, and on the other hand a more relaxed atmosphere, and the advent of a libertine lifestyle, less hidden and more and more accessible.
Also made more accessible was camera equipment, like the Rolleiflex and Leica, which were much easier to use than older cameras, another state of affairs reminiscent of the rise of digital in the present day.
Read the full text of this article on the French version of Le Journal.
La loge des rats – Martial Lenoir
Du 7 novembre au 31 décembre 2012
Galerie Design 58
58 rue Mazarine
75006 Paris – France
Signature du livre le 13 novembre à partir de 18h
