Intimacy, 2026
Intimacy, much like love, has accompanied me for several years. These are widely shared and
frequently used notions, yet their meaning remains deeply personal. Everyone projects onto them
their own experiences, memories, and boundaries. Over time, I have come to accept that a
complete definition will probably always remain out of reach — and that this openness is also part
of their richness.
As bell hooks writes: “The word ‘love’ is most often defined as a noun, yet we would all love better
if we used it as a verb.” This sentence resonates with the way I approach this work: intimacy is not
limited to an idea or an emotion, but manifests itself through gestures, attentions, and presences.
When speaking about intimacy or love, I often have the impression that we use the same words
without always meaning exactly the same thing. Their meaning shifts depending on the person,
the context, and the relationship. And yet, with those who make up my intimate circle, I often feel
that we share a common language, which perhaps explains the intimacy of these bonds.
It is from this experience that this project was built. Through photography, I seek to observe how
intimacy can appear in an image: not as a definition or a demonstration, but as a presence or a
relationship that can be perceived.
This work brings together two photographic series that explore this question through two different
approaches: “Cercle intime” and “Entre les choses.”The series “Entre les choses” proposes a
more personal approach. In it, I construct the images,
but with less intention to signify than to bring forth a form of perception. Here, intimacy no longer
appears as a language or a system of signs, but as a diffuse sensation, manifested through
fragments, surfaces, and familiar situations.
It is less about representing than about suggesting an experience — something that exists in an
in-between space, between seeing and feeling, between presence and withdrawal.
The series “Cercle intime” is based on the people who make up my close circle. The images are
created by the people themselves, most often using their phones. The authority of the image is
thus displaced: the question of intimacy is not only at stake in what is shown, but also in the
conditions of production — who decides to reveal themselves, who authorizes the image, and
what it means to share it with an outside gaze.
This doubling reminds us that intimacy is not only a subject of the image, but also a relational
space.
Assisted by Chiara Giorsetti
Styling by Amandine Jean-Luce
Hair&Makeup by Julie
Model Verena Märki (Grandmother) and Camille Machet