Issue (12) — En conversation with Annabelle Fadat
A monthly interview series with talented entrepreneurs about their creative process and what keeps them inspired.
For the first time, en conversation welcomes one of my closest friends, Annabelle. She (&) I met in boarding high school back in 2009, and even back then we could all already witness how gifted she was with photography.
Her path was an obvious one, for to ignore that talent would have been a shame for anyone who couldn’t have experienced it later in her life; and for three years, between whirlwind romances and hand—rolled cigarettes, she documented our best (&) worst moments with candid portraits in blue tones.
To me, Annabelle’s photography is like the sun warming my face in winter, the soft bedsheets wrapping my nights or my favourite perfume. There is something so comforting and ethereal yet so grounded in the way she depicts the most mundane activities—and I promise it will make you fall in love with life’s simplest moments.
Hope you enjoy this one 🌞
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(1) Can you introduce yourself?
I'm Annabelle, photographer and videographer based in Marseille, and I've been passionate about images for a long time—especially about the process of creating them. I studied Applied Arts before I went on to specialise in photography.
Portraiture has always been my first medium, but today my approach to portraiture is more creative and conceptual.
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(2) What is your contribution to the world and to the lives of others?
The motivation behind my work is to offer a poetic and dreamlike perspective on reality by addressing intimate and universal subjects close to my heart; such as ecology, our relationship with disappearance, death, removal from our roots, the passing of time...
(3) What is currently inspiring you and influencing your worldview?
I find inspiration in the everyday things that are part of my environment: light reflections, water distortions, glistening rivers, dreams, symbols, creatures, romance... I enjoy returning to old photo albums, letters, diaries or visiting old houses.
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Surrealist artists are my refuge: Léonora Carrington, Léonor Fini, Claude Cahun or Meret Oppenheim... I devour the books they have written as well as the ones dedicated to them.
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(4) Can you talk about your creative rituals?
One of my important rituals is about writing first thing in the morning as soon as I get up, while I still feel a deep connection to the dreams I had in the night. I write about my emotions, my ideas… It's a very healing and stimulating process for me.
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(5) Can you share a brand you couldn't live without?
Paloma Wool. I deeply admire their truly innovative approach to the very concept of getting dressed. The textures and shapes of the creations are incredible, and all the experiences created around them are ingenious and very inspiring.
“Paloma Wool is my name and the name of this project, which is about getting dressed and the space and ideas that are created around the act of getting dressed.”
(6) Annabelle’s R.E.P.O.R.T
/ READING
Down Below by Leonora Carrington—the most profoundly moving memoir I’ve read in my life, a stunning depiction of madness.
/ EXPLORING
Jean Daniel Pollet's short film Bassae (1964), a total and powerful sensory experience.
This exploration of the temple of Bassae’s ruins (isolated in the Peloponnese misty mountains, Greece) invites its audience to contemplate their place in the universe through this experimental format.
/ PLAYING
My favourite music: Niña de Fuego by Manolo Caracol, which I scream behind the wheel of my Fiat Panda.
/ OBSESSING
Over the shimmering water in rivers, Oskar Schlemmer's costumes for the Ballet triadique (Bauhaus), Niki de Saint Phalle and her sculpture “ La Mariée”.
/ RECOMMENDING
Nagori (literally "the imprint of the waves"), an essay by Ryoko Sekiguchi, to immerse yourself in nostalgic beauty.
In Japanese, Nagori is a matter of sensation: the nostalgia for something we reluctantly let go, an ambivalent sensation that encompasses the joy of experiencing a given moment while being fully aware that it marks the end of something.
/ TRENDING
La Chimera, directed by Alice Rohrwacher (2023). One of my greatest inspirations.
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