Camille Vivier is a French artist
Episode 322: Camille Vivier is a French photographer whose work straddles the lines between fashion, fantasy, and photography. I have been a massive fan since I stumbled across the work with the publication of her book Twist by Art Paper Editions. Our tastes are similar in many ways, and it was refreshing to speak with Camille about her new book HR Giger published by Scheidegger & Spiess.
The book examines the Swiss artist’s home and his creations in situ. Giger passed from this plane in 2014, leaving a vast legacy circulating through visual art, cinema, and the fantastical imagination of one of the world’s most visionary artists. Vivier spent a few days in the artist’s home throughout a couple of visits. The first visit was on commission for her commercial work, but seizing the opportunity to return, the artist would later come back and make more images in the studio, resulting in this book. The book is a fascinating look-in at Giger’s intimate environment and Vivier’s process. The book is large and full of brilliant images from Vivier that are part documentation and intervention. Vivier documents the studio of Giger, putting objects, sculptures, and the artist’s garden in front of her lens.
For the other images in the book, Vivier worked with nude models in both the garden and the interior of the home and studio that, continues Vivier’s interest in a fantastical world where women are not only the protagonists but come to dominate the environments in which they roam, a notion that I sincerely believe Giger would have approved of. The book is a phantasmagorical journey through a psychologically charged universe in which Vivier’s camera creates a microsystem within an already fantastically charged realm. It is an incredible testament to Giger and confirms Vivier’s exceptional talent. Please listen in!
