Sylvie Huet

I was born in 1955. My father belongs to that extinct species of “small town photographers”, anonymous creators of family albums. Reportage, black and white prints developed in the lab, studio, portraits, “the Kodak revolution… Precious images of my childhood. / Curtain /. The year I turned sixteen, he brutally broke away from photography and it is only much later, in 1996, that I got back into it, after a few digressions: masters in literature, teaching, copywriting for publishers, journalist… Photography resurfaced, drawing me toward another form of writing. I listen to dozens of photographers and write as many interviews and reports on them for the press (Photographie.com, Photo Nouvelles, Réponses Photo…), but more and more, I yearn to tell my own stories. Since childhood, I had only been “taking pictures”. Becoming a professional photographer meant to stick with a subject and to make a book out of it. People interest me, their intimacy, the places where they live. I like to get into their homes, photography and a healthy curiosity allow me to do that.
There is little difference, basically, between a book on body transformations (BOD MOD, Marval 2003), a book on small people (Nains, et alors ?, Buchet-Chastel 2007) and a book on teddy bears, as traveling companions for adults (A Story of Bears, Dewi Lewis 2014). All have taught me just how fragile we are.

Portraits officiels is my first exhibition.

Sylvie Huet, 2017

Translated by Ilsa Carter and Pierre Guglielmina