Your life in a few words
I grew up in Paris. In 2007, I moved to London where I studied History of Art, first at the Courtauld Institute and then at UCL for my master’s degree. Photography had always been a strong interest of mine, and it was very exciting to be able to study and work in this field in London. In the course of my studies, I specialised in the relationship between photography and science, looking at its early uses in contexts like astronomy, meteorology and medicine. Archives and unconventional material have always interested me. I worked for both public and private institutions, researching photography collections and archives, and in recent years the scope of my work expanded to contemporary practices. In parallel to my professional life, I developed publishing and editorial activities starting with Adad Books, in collaboration with Alix Janta-Polczynski, and now with my new imprint Silence Editions.
Silence Editions is a very young publishing house you’ve set not long ago. It’s very curious that you deal with limited editions book and (almost) any form of art. Which is your drive and/or inspiration and which is an example of ‘necessary book’ even published by others you like to quote?
Working with limited editions seems the only way to exist for a small independent publisher. I also really like the idea that a book exists in a limited amount of copies, it becomes a collectible object, somewhere between a book and an artist’s edition. A book that has been a great inspiration is Unfinished Dissertation by Boris Mikhailov.
Who conceives the graphic design and the layout included the format (once you’ve chosen the Leporello and all your books seem very different)?
I have worked closely with Jonas Meier, a French graphic designer based in Brussels. The layout and format of each book we have made together is the result of our discussions, and collaboration.
Can you foresee for us the next book on print?
Our most recent publication is a collaboration with ALMA ZEVI gallery in Venice. We co-published a book to accompany their new exhibition “Hatufim” by Alain Baczynsky. It is the fruit of a close collaboration with the gallery and the artist. Baczynsky’ series is very intimate and at the same time invites the viewer to reflect on issues such as identity, points of views, ideologies, and to question our ways of seeing. I am currently working on a new publication with Adèle Gratacos, a young French, Brussels-based artist. We collaborated on her first publication “Ces tremblements qui nous exposent (Too Close is Not Enough)” which was released last year during Off Print in London and this new collaboration will be released on the occasion of her exhibition at the Maison Européenne de la Photographie in Paris next summer.
The music and the book (not yours) with you now
At the moment I am reading a book entitled Le Fleuve Alphée by French writer Roger Caillois. I have recently started to explore Caillois’s writing, I am particularly interested in his take on imagination, language, and above all the amazing ways in which he brings together poetry, imagination and science. And I am listening to the music of Malian singer Ali Farka Touré.
Where do you see yourself in ten years from now?
It is hard to tell! Hopefully surrounded by more books, and with a few more published by Silence Editions….
What did you learn from life so far?
Intuition is a tool that shouldn’t be underestimated! (even when it seems to take you in strange directions).
Hatufim (Kidnapped) is on show until April 20, 2019