A TRIGGER
Photographer Elea Jeanne Schmitter hands the power of taking the picture over to her sitters. Her series of directed self-portraits feature people who identify as women within the institutional environment. She invites the viewer to confront stereotypes and to explore these intimate portraits.
Text & Photography Elea Jeanne Schmitter
A TRIGGER, 2020 was presented during the JUSQU'ICI TOUT VA BIEN exhibition at Palais de Tokyo curated by Hugo Vitrani, JR, Ladj Ly and Mathieu Kassovitz.
The project seeks to shape the various issues of the under and poor representativeness of people who identify as women within the institutional environment.
In these images, I abandon the form of authority held by a photographer over its subject, what you see are directed self-portraits. They are in control of the trigger, of their image, and holds in their fists a form of decision-making power.
The idea is to spotlight women as figureheads of change in their milieu of expertise. Activists, artists, writers, journalists, actresses from associations, sex workers, economists, mothers, project managers, directors, musicians, gallery owners: all of them evolve in their community like pioneers at different scales.
By not stating what each person does, I let the viewer confront their own stereotypes that they might afflict each woman by seeking out what each is. Without an answer, we can then delve more deeply into those intimate and revealing portraits.
About Elea
Elea Jeanne is a visual artist living and working in Paris. After studying fine arts in Canada, she joined the Kourtrajmé school and graduated in the Arts and Images section in 2020 under the direction of Ladj Ly and JR.
Through her work, which combines photography, installations and performances, she puts to the test of intimacy what is socially accepted as ‘the norm’.
To see more of her work, visit her website or follow her on Instagram
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