Every month, The Eye of Photography takes an interest in photographic collectives with words by Benjamin Rullier. Far from the figure of the solitary artist, photographers choose to come together. Collaborative projects, bridges between practices, economic realities: a founding or active member presents their collective, its specifics, and its challenges.
In August, Anita Volker traces the creation of the Sans Filtre Collectif, which brings together seven women photographers from all corners of France. Different in their backgrounds, activities, and perspectives, they unite around a desire to create and exchange « without filter » in their practice.
What led you to become a professional photographer?
I’ve had several lives. I was an operating room nurse for 15 years while doing photography and video on the side. Then, I trained at the Varan workshops, and now I am a filmmaker and photographer. I work around facial differences, disability, and identity.
How did women photographers from Nantes, Saint-Etienne, Paris, Roanne, Villeneuve-sur-Lot, or Montpellier come to form a collective?
We were almost all part of Hans Lucas, but we only knew each other through the images we created. It’s an agency of over 600 photographers, but in the end, no one really sees each other. A small group formed on Messenger with the women of the agency, and one day, Agathe Catel and Véronique Popinet suggested meeting. Eight of us responded, and we met at Véronique Popinet’s place near Roanne. We all had the desire to exchange, to get feedback from others, and to discuss common projects.
You each have different sensitivities and profiles; what brought you together?
Annie Gozard does wedding photography, Clara Pauthier is a cinematographer, and Agathe Catel is a singer. We are truly eight different women with unique paths, and we’re all a bit straightforward. We said to ourselves, let’s do photo editing, but without any filters—we need to be able to say things as they are to move forward together. That’s how Sans Filtre was born in the spring of 2022.
How do you keep this collective alive?
We meet about twice a year. In between, we have video calls where we show each other our work. Friendships are formed. And being among women has also allowed some to express themselves more freely.
Does a special relationship develop between you?
Thanks to this, we feel less alone; we can exchange ideas, help each other, and motivate each other. It also allows us to create new things with our different skills. For example, following a project by Véronique Popinet on the culinary heritage of Moldovan women, Clara Pauthier and I immediately thought it should be made into a documentary. So, we spent three weeks in Moldova. I was the director, Clara was the cinematographer, Véronique did the sound, and we also had a translator. We started with a photo project and expanded it into other mediums.
Have these two and a half years of existence sparked the desire for projects imagined and carried by the collective?
Every year, we do a project around the summer: what this season represents for each of us and in society. Six months ago, during our last meeting, we wanted to start a stronger project based on Barjavel’s novel Ravages. Starting from a book allows us to explore each other’s universes and perspectives. We wanted to talk about the new landscapes of the 21st century, and several of us thought of this novel as a good starting point: for both those who are into very documentary photography and those with a more poetic language.
Is this an engaging choice that adds to your respective work?
It’s true, it takes time, and we also realize that it’s not easy to do collective work: to set it up, to agree on a subject, on a way of doing things. Above all, it’s important to maintain regular contact to keep the energy alive. In September, we’ll talk about it again during our next meeting on the island of Oléron. Each of us will have to present our topic around this project and see if it resonates with the others. And we’ll definitely discuss the collective again, because it’s always a work in progress. We’ll talk about everyone’s expectations and directions. We try not to overthink it but to keep this collective alive, which bring us together humanly, artistically, and professionally.
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