Although Mip Pava and Mélanie Challe’s artistic universes are different, both artists are interested in the notion of perception. Here are our two readers picks of the week.
Mip Pava
36-year-old educator Paméla Lefebvre, also known as Mip Pava is also a photographer based in Rennes, France, who has been playing with the media for the last five years. Working both in film and digital, she produces poetic projects – a series of delicate visual stories. “I try to translate in image the beauty of what I see, perceive and feel”, she tells us. In her series Au royaume du pelican (In the pelican’s kingdom, ed.) the artist tackled the subject of childhood. “This project is built like a wordless tale, a dreamy narration illustrating this moment in life”, the photographer adds. Whether realistic or metaphorical, Mip Pava’s images blur the boundaries between worlds and invite the imaginary into the ordinary. By playing with contrasts and the timelessness of black and white, she constructs a wonderful universe. A beautiful tribute to the innocence and perception of a child.
© Mip Pava
Mélanie Challe
Mélanie Challe, a 37-year-old photographer and video maker based in Paris divides her time between commissions and personal projects. 13 years ago, after graduating from a masters in marketing, she refused a permanent contract and a comfortable position to travel to Australia. “I became an photographer assistant to learn the craft, and I exhibited my first series. It encouraged me to keep going”, she remembers. To her, photography is a language to express the inexpressible. “My photographic approach focuses on the notions of interiority and movement. Each series has a choreographic approach of the model or of myself, and a relationship with space, movement and sequence. The human body is always present, either literally or figuratively”, she explains. The artist likes to experiment and play with discrepancies to question what is seen as common knowledge. Oftentimes, she works with a protocole. “I keep repeating a simple and unique gesture, to reach a balance”, she tells us. Her series Vision intérieure (Interior vision) illustrates it perfectly. “How to perceive people and the world? How can another gaze grasp ours? The viewer develops a sensitivity to other senses, to body language and to the environment surrounding the subject. And the reactions of the subjects – as they are deprived of their vision – are numerous: from withdrawal to cheerfulness. The protocol creates privileged environment to use our imagination, inferiority, spirituality”, she says.
© Mélanie Challe
