I am a very omnivore type of creator, which is not as rare as one might imagine it. A lot of artists actually orbit around quite a few and different types of media. In my case, I learned how to sew when I was five, in an art school. I learned how to play puppets at the same time. I fell in love with the craft because through it, I was able to create toys. During all my childhood I learned very different types of media of expression, painting, drawing, music, theater, etc. I also had the chance of having a child analog camera, gifted to me by my mother, which I carried around everywhere, mostly taking pictures of my fingers, covering family members and animals I would find special.
Nowadays you can see my origins translated into the launch of my own brand. Which at the very beginning was purely a one-man show, which is not what I love the most, to be honest. I love collaborating with people, especially creative people! But if you are starting something new, like me, in a country where you don’t know many people yet, you need to create resources for yourself. That’s why I took back the camera… This time, I am trying to make sure I don’t put my fingers in front of the lens. I also think that it’s a very interesting exercise to understand very clearly which is the best way to portray my ideas. For me, photography is like writing, it’s about articulating and being able to express an idea in a visual manner, I like to think about it that way.
The series below was shot one week after the presentation of my first Torofée collection, entitled Purple Moon. I had actually created a big purple moon, which I used as a prop for my ‘home delivery shows’, so I wanted to give it its minute of fame, making it a central element of the photo shoot. I also wanted to create closer portraits, so people could better appreciate some of the details of the collection, like the jewellery. Eventually, I started experimenting with the post-production, trying to make it more ludic, more within my universe.
Credits:
Models: Khaina Kiess, Remi Blanc-Chatton, Mitchelle Shivashankar.
Make up: Khaina Kiess.
Photography: Ivo Barraza Castaneda
