UNDER THE INFLUENCE
& NOEMIFICATION
by Nicolas Guerin
A retrospective in 3 volumes. Limited Edition.
– The first volume (UNDER THE INFLUENCE, Volume A) is dedicated to the years spent photographing his wife, Sheri, from 2010 to 2017, mainly in the studio in Montreuil, and in the places where they stay during their travels, but also his faithful friends (Pauline, Léa, Tessa, Héa, Klaudia, Lena…)
– The second volume (UNDER THE INFLUENCE, Volume B) is dedicated to the years spent with Alina, with whom he shares his life from 2017 to 2020. They travel together around the world, from Russia to Chile, through Japan or Mongolia. Then they settle far from Paris, to create an artistic residence. Some friendships remain and others are born (Marisa, Julia, Human, Noémie…)
– The third volume, NOEMIFICATION, is dedicated to Noémie, a young woman with a fully tattooed body, whose skin is a singular work of art, offering unprecedented possibilities for highlighting. Nicolas photographs her exclusively between 2020 and 2022. This volume, centered on a single subject, in rupture with the first two, is drawn separately.
“I am self-taught. I learned photography alone, from books. Books have been my only teachers.
For 10 years, I exclusively made portraits of filmmakers. Between two doors, as fast as possible, as best as I could. For others, for magazines, to learn. The fame of my subjects allowed me to stay in the shadows for a long time. My life then was discreet. I didn’t drink, I didn’t smoke, I didn’t dance. I never had a taste for provocation nor for excess. I was grey. An average grey.
I was a son without revolt, a student without history. I walked the beat. Without surprise. A life drawn in advance, by circumstances, geography, family. Until I was 36, I had the impression that I had not disobeyed, and that I had not really lived anything worth telling. A kind of boredom that doesn’t say its name.
And then, a foolish love. And my silent life became noisy.”
Nicolas Guérin