“Together, we created a third eye” – Conversation with Elsa and Johanna

Exploring the city together, taking photography courses at the university and meeting new people. Everything was new and it was a wonderful experience to share it with each other.
We enjoyed going to popular neighborhoods of Brooklyn, especially we loved the Puerto Rican neighborhood. We were wandering around, observing the people, the houses. It all inspired us.

Creating as a duo requires a certain kind of connection. Are your personal characters similar or complementary? When you work together how are roles usually divided between you?

When we began working together, it was essential that we could both do the same things in parallel. Since we usually work without assistants and we both modeling in our photographs, we need to be autonomous at every step of creation,  such as dressing, make-up, hair, lighting and photography. We have to be autonomous in every step of the creation process, as we usually work without an assistant and we are both our own models. Together, we created a "third eye", a common identity, which required a completely horizontal relationship in our work. We trust each other completely and we work at ease together. Although we have complementary characters, both of us are joyful and optimistic. I would say Elsa is very gentle and me more extroverted but we get along really well.

Yes, we have different personalities, but we indeed complement each other well. When it comes to work, we both have the same approach to things moreover our different qualities juxtaposed creating a beautiful energy.

We always have a basic intention that develops and evolves according to how we feel on site. During a project, we immerse ourselves in the new place and observe the atmosphere, habits, lights, colors and textures. After we process all this information and then we give birth to an idea, a desire which at this point is also fed by references. Then we buy second-hand clothes, jewelry and accessories from local shops and choose our wigs to build our protagonists using our own memories and imagination. They evolve during the shooting according to the chosen setting and location because the place of creation has a huge impact on the characters we create and their identity. Therefore we won’t invent the same figures in Ireland or Italy.

Your work evokes nostalgia yet creates a surreal world. This duality brings a special quality.   Is it a conscious decision to mix the two?

Absolutely, different atmospheres and aesthetic codes can blend in the way we create. This feeds the fantastical part of our work. We mimic reality but with an imaginary approach that can be nurtured by various styles, such as surrealism. This allows us to bring a poetic, sometimes absurd or offbeat tone to our work.

Our work is surely a reflection of what we love and what moves us. The feeling of nostalgia includes a journey through time while surrealism allows a total freedom to narrate, to invent, to offer something different to the world. These notions of time and imagination have always imbued us both.

Plus from the place itself. Sometimes an object or a room in a house can give us the idea of a personality on the spot.

This portrait of Frida encapsulates everything we admire in women: charisma, creative strength, resilience, elegance and mystery.  It's like a compendium of personality traits that we find inspiring in life and creativity.

You work with both digital and analog techniques.  What makes you choose one method or the other? Do you have a preference?

For us, the technique is always adapted to the project. It's always a question of which technique will make the most sense for our purpose and the same thing from an aesthetic point of view. It depends on the style and texture we want to achieve in the end.

Yes, each medium is indeed chosen according to the project’s coherence and aesthetic.

Digital has a lot of advantages and practicalities and very precise rendering whereas analogue can be expensive but offers more grain and texture with less precision, and more unpredictability. These notions obviously influence our way of creating.
For example, our series, The Timeless History of Moormerland is partly about amateur and family photography, so it seemed obvious to create it in analogue.

We like to question issues of society and memory, whether private or collective. Our work holds up a mirror to notions of identity, gender and the collective imagination, inviting us to observe our own system of projection on an image or memory. It doesn't conclude anything but opens the door to contemplation and reflection.

What do you see as the greatest challenge facing young adults today?

I think the greatest challenge is to remain optimistic despite everything the world is going through. To maintain the desire to create, to build and to dream.

Keep an optimistic attitude, find meaning in your activity and be able to step out of the mainstream sometimes, to recharge your batteries and draw inspiration.