Chat with artists: discover Hélène Hubert’s vibrant world of still-life photography

Get to know the photographic work of Hélène Hubert and how her lens captures vibrant scenes that delve into themes surrounding parallel realities, impermanence, and that that we cannot see. Discover what inspires the ethereal images in which she evokes joy and strength in a parallel universe where everything is possible.

This interview is part of “Bodies of Water” art exhibition, a curated show that brings together artworks inspired by water and its symbolic meanings. Curated by Sergio Gomez and Didi Menendez, the exhibition will run from November 7 to December 27, 2024, at the 33 Contemporary Gallery, located within the Palm Beach Art & Design Showroom. Additionally, an online art show powered by ArtPlacer is now available.

Keep reading to get to know more about Hélène’s work.

Meet Hélène’s photographic work exploring parallel worlds and the unseen.

Tell us a little about your background. How did your journey as an artist begin, and what inspired you to pursue a creative career?

As a freelance photographer and author, I studied Fine Art photography at the Art Institute of Boston in Maine, USA, in the early 1980s. This is how I discovered Ansel Adams’ Zone System and implemented it in my photographic practice and work philosophy. 

When I started working in 1983, my skill for highlighting everyday objects and my ability to create innovative and engaging visual content asserted themselves in the advertising market in Paris.

As early as 1998, I fitted my view camera with digital backs. I experimented that digital photography mirrors flows of energies beyond the visible spectrum. It is the radiation of our subjects made of billions of particles that we capture as pixels. In my lab, as I practice my files, a switchover occurs, shapes, shadows, and silhouettes suggest the existence of parallel worlds where distortion, fantasy, and dual meanings prevail. A subject becomes the subject, gifted with a life of its own for everyone to see.

My growing passion for pixels led me to break away from silver processes. I opted out of the world of advertising to embrace the mysteries of life, using digital sensors as a possible key. Freed from the constraints of documenting reality, I am now caught up in the need to freeze the impermanence of things. I experiment with passageways and time transitions, where spaces are connected and interact with one another, to showcase parallel worlds we are passing through.

Your artwork is featured in the ‘Bodies of Water’ exhibition. Can you share the story behind the piece(s) you submitted? What themes does your work explore?

“Angelcat” featured in the “Bodies of Water” exhibition is part of the “My Blues 2020” series that emerged bright and blue from the depths of confinement. My innocent childhood flashes through my dancing tutu, immersed in a sunny swimming pool. The predominance of blue and the deliberate absence of black underline the potential for peace and joy at the center of life’s constant movement.

“and in vaporous skies I fly and angels brush past me with their silky wings…”.

A pictorial rendering of invisible conversations. A dialogue between myself and this other self into which I melt with delight. From a formal point of view, a progressive shift from my “masculine” eye to my “feminine” eye, my attraction to architectural structures towards a more fluid, evanescent universe. Emotionally, the transition from existential, earthly questions to the magic of self-discovery. Somebody else, somewhere else, forever present, framed by blue, joy and beauty.

“Angelcat” is a piece from the “My Blues 2020” series that will be exhibiting at the “Bodies of water” art show.

Can you walk us through your creative process, from the initial concept to the final piece?

As a still-life photographer, my golden thread is the energy within. I capture singular light impressions that disclose this blurred zone between the object, its reflection, and what it represents.

I explore all the spaces in which the objective reality reveals a secret, which might not appear at first sight. Above all, it is the vibration fields of something, a lightning, an impulse, an emotion that urges me to press the shutter. 

Tuned up to this frequency in my now virtual darkroom, I dust my photographic file with the tip of my stylus, bringing out the infinitely small, the infinitely visible, “the one visible “- literally – « l’un visible » as defined by Jacques Lacan.

I track the evanescent manifestations of my subjects’ internal reality, focusing on rendering this perceptive intensity. My work aims to bring out ” the one visible,” the universe split up into a myriad of beings and different objects, which are nevertheless all connected within the same material: life.

How do your experiences and surroundings influence your work? How does your identity or background play a role in your creations ?

From an early age, I have constantly nourished my eyes and heart by observing works of art. 

News breaks through my soul and art (whether mine or others) allows me to put things at a distance. I realized that this great stirring of my neurons required isolation and silence to materialize.

Of course, I work full of all that I carry with me, immersed in the present time, as I edit and enhance my photographs, as I drive their colors to the point I want them to be, according to my emotions.

Hélène aims to evoke joy with her photographic body of work.

Water is such a powerful symbol—what does it represent in your work? How do you connect with the exhibition’s theme, and what unique perspective do you bring to it?

Water is a wonderful playground for light and offers multidimensions, verticals, horizontals, transversals, surfaces, depths. It can be limited, or unlimited, it can be still and threatening or in movement and full of life. In my work, water is used to reflect most of the energies you can relate to.

What do you want people to feel or take away when they view your work?

I want people to feel empowered with joy and strength.

What role do exhibitions like ‘Bodies of Water’ that are both physical and digital play in an artist’s career?

It contributes to strengthening my audience’s trust and offers a chance for new feedback and audiences.

How has participating in this exhibition impacted you?

Water was an obvious theme in my work so I joyfully submitted my series “Blues 2020”. Being selected was a great pride and joy. I hope this is the beginning of a rewarding relationship and other surprises.

What advice would you give aspiring artists just starting their journey?

Being an artist is a total commitment, requiring hard work, tenacity, and sacrifice. The digital age requires us to professionalize and strategically manage our own careers and brand image. If we want to identify and target our audience, we need training and support.

Editor’s note: this interview has been edited for length and clarity.