Capucine Lageat and Antoine Perroteau have formed the duo Capucine + Antoine since 2017. Working together from the conception of projects to shooting, they have developed a documentary practice focused on spaces in transformation, the memory of places, and the human presences that move through them.
What led you to become a photographic duo?
Antoine: Capucine had been doing photography for a long time, and I came to the Nantes School of Fine Arts as a painter. In the beginning, we found common ground through a medium that was quite neutral for both of us: video. After our studies, we refocused on photography.
Capucine: We completed our DNSEP (Master of Fine Arts degree) together. Starting in our third year, we already had joint projects. During our studies, we were able to experiment with what it means to work as a pair. It worked well, so we kept going!
It doesn’t seem so common in photography to step completely behind a collective name.
Capucine: I did an applied arts baccalaureate, and ever since then, the idea of working collectively has always felt natural to me. Working alone has never been something I wanted.
Antoine: We don’t have a belief in the sanctity of individual talent.
Capucine: We’re always together. For example, when applying for open calls proposal we think about them and respond to them together. We’ve never wanted to do it separately.
How do these shared intentions take shape in your projects?
Capucine: We never really work in exactly the same way. One of our first projects focused on participatory housing in Angers. Before even starting, we had decided to work with the idea of the polyptych. On site, our images were very composed: the camera was on a tripod, and we framed everything together. For other projects, it’s different. Our two most recent ones involved portraiture, which was new for us. Doing portraits as a duo is a different experience—you discuss, you ask questions together…
Antoine: When we’re both photographing, sometimes one of us interacts with the person while the other, off to the side, captures a different image.
Are your roles interchangeable?
Capucine: Yes, I think we can easily take on each other’s roles, even if some things come more naturally to one of us. For example, I feel more comfortable conducting interviews, but in terms of photography, we don’t strictly divide tasks.
Antoine: We often have several cameras that we swap back and forth—we blur all the lines! We both take photos, but we always sign them together. People often ask us, “Who took this one?” Most of the time we remember, but sometimes we honestly don’t know anymore! There’s this myth of the decisive moment, but a photograph is much more than that hundredth of a second—it’s the project definition, the first contact, the scouting, the editing, the printing…
Is the thinking process an important part of your projects?
Capucine: For a new project we’re doing in Limay (a commission from the town focusing on everyday portraits), we spent weeks hesitating—especially about the medium. We had just re-equipped ourselves with digital gear, made our decision, and at the very last moment decided to go back to film.
Antoine: It can take us hours of discussion just to choose a camera!
Why that choice?
Capucine: With film, something special happens in the relationship with the subject—you talk about the camera, you share memories… And with digital, people often ask to see the picture right away. Film keeps a bit of mystery, which we like.
Antoine: And you take fewer photos, so each choice is more deliberate. It brings the focus back to shooting itself. Being a photographer means enjoying being outside. For us, there’s nothing more anxiety-inducing than spending days behind a computer.
Are there constraints to working as a duo?
Antoine: Yes, especially financially. We often apply to open calls that are open to all art forms, because many in the photographic field have budgets designed for a single artist—which doesn’t work for a duo.
Your two current residencies (in Limay and the Vexin) give you some visibility for the future. What are your plans going forward?
Capucine: We had set ourselves the goal of working closer to home, and this is a first step! Going forward, we’d also like to develop shorter projects. Residencies are very demanding—they take a lot of time and energy. We’d like to balance them with more commissioned work.
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