What inspired you to create works of art and to become an artist? (events, feelings, experiences...)
Nothing pushed me to create or to become an artist, it was only a strong natural need to express myself, to exteriorize and to materialize my own emotions.
What is your artistic background, the techniques and subjects you have experimented with so far?
In my “photographic” life, there have been several great periods. First of all the first was that of learning, mastering the tool and the technique. This led me to so-called "humanist" photography, which testifies then to a great and long period of work with the world of contemporary dance and then the last, the one in which I now evolve: sequential narration staged and scripted.
What are the 3 aspects that differentiate you from other artists, making your work unique?
A universe bordering on surrealism, very saturated colors and always a committed message behind the images.
Where does your inspiration come from?
Inspiration comes naturally as a reaction to the world around us with “the human” at the center of the reflection. It's a real obsession.
What is your artistic approach? What visions, sensations or feelings do you want to evoke in the viewer?
It is quite difficult in photography to speak of singular art, but I claim to be above all an expressionist artist. Indeed, I seek to express my emotions and my state of mind in a subjective and interior way, rather than faithfully reproducing external reality as I was able to do a long time ago in so-called "humanist" photography. photographic work is very close to conceptual photography. She emphasizes the creation of images that express an idea or concept in an imaginative and original way to provoke thought and discussion.
What is the process of creating your works? Spontaneous or with a long preparatory process (technical, inspiration from art classics or other)?
The process of creating images is very close to that which can be encountered in the cinema. : scenarios, location scouting, storyboards, preparations, shots. It is indeed a fairly long and sometimes complex process. I always work by series of images. These series always tell stories that everyone will have to interpret in their own way according to their own experience.
Do you use a particular working technique? if so, can you explain it?
Photography and associated digital processing make it possible to create images. I claim this term, to create images since it is not a question of testifying or showing reality but of creating a totally personal universe to bring the public to question themselves.
Are there any innovative aspects in your work? Can you tell us which ones?
I don't know if it's an innovative aspect but in any case it's a reality since I made a particular artistic choice for 7 years now. After meeting Nathalie FATON in January 2016 for a photographic work on the notion of survival. The FERMET & FATON duo formed instantly. Since then, we have naturally worked in total collaboration and symbiosis. All the images have since been signed FERMET & FATON. We find essentially and on all the creations the presence of this woman sublimated like a heroine of Comics or mythology. The images are very often loaded with symbolism that the spectator must seek out and decode. No decoration, no accessory is on the image by chance.
Do you have a format or medium that you are most comfortable with? if yes, why ?
I very often present the images in very large formats with the idea of having the character(s) at scale 1. Otherwise I like to vary the formats and supports depending on the images. I still have a slight preference for prints on art paper. Certainly a remnant of the past compared to the many hours spent in darkrooms to make my own black and white prints at the time.
Where do you produce your works? At home, in a shared workshop or in your own workshop? And in this space, how do you organize your creative work?
All the images are made in real diverse and varied places in France or abroad. All the preparation and post-shooting work takes place at home in my “workshop living room office”, a living and creative room. My life revolves 200% by and for the research and creation of images.
Does your work lead you to travel to meet new collectors, for fairs or exhibitions ? If so, what does it bring you?
Of course, to show my work and meet the public, I hold many exhibitions and art fairs. I need this confrontation or reaction, it's part of the process, especially since behind each of the images created there is a message.
How do you imagine the evolution of your work and your career as an artist in the future?
After the different periods of photographic creations that I was talking about at the beginning of this interview, I think that after all these years I have found what I have been looking for for a very long time, perhaps the quest for a lifetime of creation and image search. There are now so many stories to tell, so many series of images to create with this technique. The field of possibilities seems so vast and infinite. There may perhaps be a small evolution with the addition of the dimension of sound to enrich this photographic universe. I have already tried some experiments in this area, these could become more systematic and controlled.
What is the theme, style or technique of your latest artistic production?
The last series is called "The Chameleon Woman". It's a series of images that wants to highlight the difficulty of being yourself and adapting to the world in which we live. The system would like to mold us, clone us and label us. Surreal, quirky or singular, it doesn't matter, it's a way of questioning oneself that essentially defends the idea of freedom. Don't try to blend in, just be yourself. In the end, above all, do not lie to yourself or to others. The risk would be to integrate on the surface while disintegrating in depth. Forced assimilation into a collectivity endangers its being. The forgetting of one's inner self… from the invisible woman to the chameleon woman. It is suffering and a slow self-destruction.
Can you tell us about your most important exhibition experience?
There are so many and so different from each other. In 2022, for example, there were fourteen different exhibition and trade show venues. it ranges from classic exhibitions to complex installations, from intimate places to more remarkable ones such as the Grand Palais or the Museum of Fantastic Art in Brussels.
If you could have created a famous work in the history of art, which one would you choose? And why ?
A global work rather, in the world of comics, that of Enki BILAL. Paradoxically, he is not a photographer but I am a child as I say a "screaming metal" child. I was branded with a hot iron. It was a real cultural and artistic shock.
If you could invite one famous artist (dead or alive) to dinner, who would it be? How would you suggest
spend the evening ?
Without hesitation, and logically of course, it is still and always about Enki BILAL!! Who knows maybe one day the opportunity will present itself! Selfishly, I would like him to go through my images, and make a critique, an analysis. I imagine a simple, friendly and sincere moment as if we had been together forever.
Olimpia Gaia Martinelli
