Two recurring faces, countless characters and stories. Reality, fiction, beauty, sadness, identity, longing, memory and loneliness.

These are the salient characteristics of the work of two French photographers, Elsa Parra and Johanna Benaïnous, who have been working together since 2014. They take on the roles of model, stylist, set designer and photographer in set scenes, enacting the characters of their stories, which blend invented and real elements. Sensitive and meticulous, their works explore geographical, social and cultural milieus, interpreted through the medium of photography.

‘We are like sponges that absorb landscapes, people and the atmosphere around us. As soon as we are pressed, we spit out a colourful liquid that is a reflection of our society.’

Their creative method straddles photography and theatre. Mise en scène and storytelling are essential parts of the creative process, and the shoot is preceded by careful observation and preparations. For hours or even days, the girls take on their roles, inhabiting not only the environment but the inner world as well of fictional characters that are often inspired by their own or others’ real-life stories. The resulting photos attest to this multifaceted creative process, which requires complete involvement.

By employing the method of autofiction, Elsa and Johanna’s works create curious visual worlds that may bring in mind Alfred Hitchcock’s films or David Lynch’s television series, Twin Peaks.

Selecting from three series by Elsa and Johanna, this exhibition opens the doors to different universes. Shot in Canada’s Calgary, the images of Beyond the Shadows look like stills from a film about the melancholy-infused lives of suburbanite mothers, girls, friends.

The Timeless Story of Moormerland uses the imagery of family photo albums to tell a story about memory, intimacy, the individual and self-representation, in a small German town near the Dutch border.

In the focus of the exhibition stands the duo’s latest project, which explores female identity by looking at the hidden emotions of the characters. The point of departure for Ce que vaut une femme : Les douze heures du jour et de la nuit (What a Woman is Worth: The Twelve Hours of Day and Night) was a book found in an attic, a 1893 tome on the moral and practical education of young girls, whose content the artists found equally edifying and comical. The works, which evoke a sense of nostalgia, explore the diversity of identity in the spaces of the house and the settings of personal space, highlighting the multiple characters inherent in a personality and the possibilities of individual freedom.

The universe Elsa and Johanna create reflects the collective portrait of youth, offering time travel to a non-existent yet familiar dimension.

The duo have exhibited in several places in recent years, including in 2022 at the Maison Européenne de la Photographie. Their works can be found in private and public collections, and they have participated in prestigious festivals and received several awards and nominations. They have published three books to date, and this exhibition selects from the material presented in them.