Emma Summerton cut her teeth in the world of fashion photography. An admirer of the work of Sarah Moon and Paolo Roversi published in Vogue Italia, she later worked for the magazine, as well as for many other prestigious titles. But the beauty of her images lies in more than just her subjects. The variety of her photographic repertoire encompasses still life, narrative and fashion. It is in the cross-fertilization of his visual work and his fashion shots that the spark of a creation flirting with mystery emerges.
The Australian-born photographer now lives in London, where she is enjoying a brilliant career. Her first editorial was shot in Polaroid, a technique she has never abandoned. Polaroid is also used in her latest series, Messages. This analog work may explain the artist's attraction to contrasts and materials in her photographs.
From one medium to the next, the particular identity of his images is partly due to the liveliness of his colors and his characteristic way of embracing light and playing with shimmer. In her work, bodies and subjects are recomposed. The photographer also adopts a sometimes surprising perspective, as in her Hydra series, where her point of view merges with that of the model. She explains that she tries to get to know her models before shooting, to integrate their personalities into her work. This is undoubtedly how the vibrations of the body come to intersect with those of the light on the surface of the image.
Out-of-field effects, superimpositions, moiré color palettes and optical effects reinforce or bring out these mystical themes directly from the image, in dialogue with early twentieth-century pictorialist photography. They also offer an air of magic and mystery inherent to his inspiration. The title of his latest exhibition, "14 Spells (to save your life)", only confirms this perception.
A kind of bewitchment of forms seems to be at the heart of his work, when bodies escape gravity or disappear under a veil, when flowers are exposed like UFOs in the night, when vernacular legends are a source of wisdom.
Ana Bordenave
England - London
