Photography · Conceptual

Melancholia, Mystery, And Paradox Explored In The Photography Of Alexandre Souêtre

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Name: Alexandre Souêtre
Words: Steph Wade

French photographer Alexandre Souêtre was haphazardly introduced to the world of art as a child; first through the work of 1970s illustrators Marcel Gottlieb and André Franquin. However, his passion for photography did not begin until later in college and was furthered by his move soon after to Los Angeles to pursue filmmaking and photography seriously.

With photographic editorials and film productions for the likes of Schön! Magazine and The Photographic Journal, the horizon of Souêtre’s future looks promising. Balancing his visual art across various forms, be it moving image, portraits, still lifes, landscapes, or fashion shots, the photographer prefers his work to remain a little mysterious. “I realized that I was, in fact, truly drawn to the still, the calm, the non-happening, the intimate, the subtle, the lost, the minimal, the ever-so-slightly off, and odd,” he explains in an interview with Leux Magazine.

Whilst the overarching theme explored is his work is the melancholia and mystery of human experience, Souêtre’s style is certainly distinguishable: a predominantly beige and monochrome color palette is united by minimal frames centered around light, tone, shadow, and texture. In the selection of images curated below, the viewer discerns Souêtre’s paradoxes: there is movement, but silence; there is clarity, but anonymity; there is innocence but confidence—beautiful images linked in their use of both emotion and emotional detachment.