Photographer Eugénie Flochel's work can be described as mixed media. Her work being positioned in the field of socially engaged art and experimental photography, she also explores narratives of mental health, gender identity and self-development. Through a playful approach, she blends documentary, fashion and fine art elements which are underpinned.
© EUGÉNIE FLOCHEL
She aims at promoting positive visibility and well-being. Her interests in mental health awareness and art therapy grew further as she completed her yoga teacher training in 2021 and now facilitates art workshops with women at various charities. Eugenie also works across the art and voluntary sectors as well as in the creative industry for ethical fashion brands, music artists and multi-disciplinary festivals.
Her project KER is an on-going project exploring healing and resilience among female survivors of domestic violence through therapeutic storytelling and experimental photography. She says that the awareness for domestic abuse is a cause that is very dear to her heart because it is her personal story.
"Portraiture is understood here in the widest sense to offer a more nuanced appreciation of survival for both survivors and viewers. Photography is used in this project as an expanded medium, a processual feminist practice and a social participatory act, a necessary tool for advocacy and social change."
Out of frustration of lack of representation on the aftermath of domestic violence, she birthed this project. She states that the healing process stems from a need to portray victims as brave survivors is a very important message. KER aims to frame surviving abuse as a positive narration of recovery, agency and self-leadership to honour creative expression.
As every person has a different story, there is no specific guide for healing. She aims to portray recovery from various perspectives, and lenses, placing value on narratives of the self in expansive and innovative ways. She intends to create an emotional and safe space for survivors to tell their stories of resilience and courage with their own words, means and terms. With hopes of establishing a new space, she tries navigating it through trauma recovery, self-growth and happiness.
"I hope that by chronicling my journey and that of other survivors, I am able to communicate complex narratives within a public discourse and engage audiences situated within multiple arenas: the social, the political, the artistic."
© EUGÉNIE FLOCHEL
Eugenie Flochel (1996) is a London-based artist with French and Persian roots working across photography and mixed media. She holds a BA in Political Science from The University of Warwick and an MFA from the Pratt Institute, NYC, prior to studying Fashion Photography at LCF.
Her interests in mental health and art therapy recently crystallised as she completed a yoga teacher training in 2021 and is now teaching mindfulness and facilitating therapeutic art workshops with women at charities. As part of her master's project KER exploring healing and resilience among female survivors of domestic abuse, she won the Procter & Gamble Better Lives Award in 2022 that entirely funded her project and received funding from the Council of Westminster to further her work with women and children in 2023. Eugenie is also working across the education, art & voluntary sectors for young people and children as an educator and workshop facilitator as well as in the creative industry for ethical fashion brands, music artists and multi-disciplinary festivals.
