Since my very first experiments in photography, I have been fascinated by human behavior and its various realities, by the ever-present human desire of living in a dream world.
Ever since its invention in the 19th century, photography has been used to document life. At the same time, it focuses on inviting audiences to a rather subjective world while trying to be taken seriously as an art form. Photography has always been considered a male-dominated profession, but luckily, things are changing. Scholars, writers, bloggers, photography students, and enthusiasts have been giving credit to the female pioneers of the field. Most were always standing and/or hiding in the shadows, oblivious to how much they could claim and accomplish. Arguably, the techniques, concepts, and themes female photographers use differ from those of male photographers. At a time when most women were convinced that their place was in the kitchen and certainly not in the dark room, some were struggling to surpass their male counterparts and work towards gaining respect and recognition for their work.
Nathalie Daoust (Canadian photographer, 1977-) was born in Quebec and studied photography at the Cégep du Vieux Montreal before moving to New York City. She first broke onto the scene in 1997 while photographing the themed rooms of the Carlton Arms Hotel in New York. This project, her first solo exhibition, was then published as a book, New York Hotel Story.
Since then, Daoust has created several conceptual projects that have taken her all over the world, from the love hotels of Tokyo to a brothel in Brazil, to a darkroom in Sydney, and the dreamy landscape of the snow-capped Swiss Alps. Her objective as an artist is to push the boundaries of photography through experimental methods.
While working with new mediums and discovering new darkroom techniques, Daoust explores the indefinable realm between truth, fantasy, and the human desire for escapism. Whether in New York, Tokyo, or Berlin, the artist has always asserted a childlike contempt for reality. With a passion for intimacy, Daoust has devoted all of her art to unveiling the secrets hidden beneath the apparent stability of life. Her photographs reflect a love for random places and a wild, inexhaustible sense of inquisitiveness.
Exploring, experiencing, and documenting rarely visited landscapes and carefully hidden hotel rooms, she spent the last decade producing voyeuristic insights into these otherwise veiled existences. Daoust has created an oeuvre that is both diverse and intense. Seeking to translate her almost ingenuous curiosity, perseverance, and highly individual interpretation of the world into fairy tale-like stories, she single-handedly creates new myths about modern-day society, as well as real-life stories of the underdogs.
What drives me the most during a project is the challenge of discovering ways to express what I felt in the moment I took the photos. I always use analogue cameras, as working with the images in the darkroom is the most exciting and crucial part of my creative process.
We will continue talking about female names that left their mark on photography and about contemporary female photographers who are still emerging. There are a lot of female photographers out there deserving of praise, and we can only hope to cover as many of them as we can. Please follow this space to find out more.
