ELLES X PARIS PHOTO - NOÉMIE GOUDAL 

GALERIE LES FILLES DU CALVAIRE 

“I will always have a feminine perspective because I’m not a man, but my work isn’t centered around this type of questioning and it’s not my major preoccupation as an artist.”

“Observatoire IX”, Observatoires © Noémie Goudal /Courtesy Les Filles du Calvaire

How did you become a photographer? Would you define yourself as a one?

When I was a teenager, I started taking photographs of everything around me. I only thought of photography as a career much later, while I was studying fine arts and photography at the Royal College of Art in London. Today, I consider myself as an artist as I don’t work exclusively with photography, even if it remains my main tool.

What drives you as a photographer?

I’m mainly interested in the history of science and the way man views surrounding nature within a scientific, social or religious context. My research has lead me to deconstruct the way I apprehend a landscape in order to reconstruct it differently, to explore new perspectives, new angles of observation.

Through my photographs, I try to create a platform for reflection, with the spectator as main protagonist. I only give a few indications as to place and geography, leaving the observer to reconstruct the rest. The difficulty lies in creating a balance between what is “said” and what remains unresolved.

Do you think there is such a thing as a ‘woman’s gaze’ in photography? Is this something you can relate to?

For certain artists, the question of women, of women’s bodies or women’s position in society is at the heart of their research. I will always have a feminine perspective because I’m not a man, but my work isn’t centered around this type of questioning and it’s not my major preoccupation as an artist. I hope my work will be appreciated in and for itself, without consideration of whether it is produced by a man or a woman.

Has being a woman influenced your work as an artist in any way? 

Yes, by my featuring in the Parcours Elles X Paris Photo Exhibition!

Do you live off your art?

Yes, I’m very lucky in that I’m able to make a living from the sales of my work, via my galleries.

Which authors have inspired you? Are there any women photographers among them?

The authors who inspire me don’t necessarily work in photography. I’m thinking of James Turrell, Christopher Williams, Nancy Holt, Walter de Maria, Anne Teresa de Keersmaeker, Liz Deschenes, Sol Lewitt, Sarah Van der Beek and many others.

Noémie Goudal © Alexandre Guirkinger

BIO


Noémie Goudal, born in 1984, now lives and works in Paris. A graduate of the Royal College of Arts and St Martins School in London, the artist examines the potential of the image as a whole, through films, photographs and installations. Her work oscillates between reality and fiction, and takes the form of large-scale installations in natural spaces. These creations redefine the notion of landscape in our contemporary society. Winner of the RCA Sustain Award (2010) and the HSBC Prize (2013), Noémie Goudal has presented her work in numerous solo exhibitions, notably at FOAM in Amsterdam (2015), the Photographers Gallery in London (2015), the BAL in Paris (2016), the Finnish Museum of Photography in Helsinki (2018) and the Musée des Beaux-Arts in Le Locle, Switzerland (2019).

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