Anaïs Boileau’s early work freely combined Mediterranean architecture with clean geometries and portraits of women basking in the sun. Between the two, a strange resonance could be heard—one created by the sun’s reflection off the photographed surfaces: skin, facades, sunglasses, and other sunbathing accessories… The flatness of the abandoned bodies echoed that of the colorful walls. The photography, though undeniably figurative, was filled with the silence of forms, the interplay of their surfaces, and their colors. This *Plein Soleil*, which brought her to prominence, now appears in retrospect as a prelude to the photographer’s recent experiments. Still in the South of France, she now composes her images in her garden. The means are simple: a few sheets of paper, gathered for the specific palette of textures and colors they display; here and there, garden accessories and materials; and then, the effect of the sun on their surfaces. The artist and the sun compose together and play with the bold interplay of shadows. In places, paint and its transparency make an appearance, adding to the image’s ambiguity.
From the reality of the garden and the farmyard—though very much present—this small open-air studio manages to gradually detach itself, carrying us along with it into a visual intoxication, much like the dizziness the sun brings.
Anaïs Boileau was born in 1992 in Nîmes. She is a photographer who explores Mediterranean cultures as a constant source of inspiration in her projects. She is a graduate of the Lausanne School of Art, ECAL. She lives in the south of France, where she divides her time between photography commissions and her artistic projects. Her work has been featured in various group exhibitions and selected for several international festivals. In September 2017, she began a one-year master’s program in photography at Central Saint Martins in London. Since her first collaboration with M le magazine du Monde in 2015, she has worked regularly for the French and international press. Her work can be found in magazines and newspapers such as Le Monde, M le magazine du Monde, The Wall Street Journal, The Financial Times, and Vanity Fair.
