International women’s day

Posted on March 8, 2015 by Pigallissimo

When I had my exhibition Amerotica way back when ( âme means soul in French ), it was an attempt to comment on the role of woman in society, and of course my own.

The issue is not simple, women get abuse everyday and not just by men, by women too.

They said my photographs were reminiscent of women photographers like Cindy Sherman and Claude Cahun, for their self portraits; they also said it reminded them of Mollino, for the eroticism. They said many things, and I see now bad copies everyday, which still reduces the role of women to objects to be utilised. It was quite a step forward though for a woman to push these kind of boundaries in terms of sexuality and intimacy and because it was real, no fashion mock. Here is a press release from the day and one photo…

The Polaroids are now vintage, but follow up and everything else happens this year.

La Soubrette De La St Valentin

ARTIST HA! HA! HA!

Posted on August 16, 2012 by Pigallissimo

A self portrait from 2003, a favorite from my late friend R. Martin who had created a project called ART POP,

le plus ca change…

EPI D’OR… Ode the the parting summer…

Posted on August 31, 2011 by Pigallissimo

Blé D’Or 2005

Like every year, it is sad to see the summer leave…Another odd creation from 2005…( recreated as a hat for a woman in fashion, not by me ) Blé D’Or even made it in the press and on the web a few years ago…

The Last Chanteuse and The Veil

Posted on August 17, 2011 by Pigallissimo

My love for vintage clothing did not start in the eighties ( way way back – maybe when I was 5 years old and wore my mothers clothes), but when I moved to London, it just perfectly suited my theatrical style and my bohemian wallet – you see nothing changes – I became a devotee of markets and second hand shops – My first veiled hat dates from the mid eighties : as they say in France “elle a une tête a chapeaux !”. Both my mother and I have a small head, which is always good in terms of hat wearing; so the first photo of me wearing a veil is for this French rock magazine called Best in the mid eighties – it followed with many crazy hair pieces, especially in LA ( unfortunately not so many pictures from these times, too much fun ) – It really became quite an obsession when I started to take these Polaroids of myself; if I did not wear a veil or a hat, I would either draw it on the photo, or stick some tiny bit of actual veil on the self portraits. This started in 2003 – In 2007 I opened a club night at the Grill room at the Cafe Royal ( famous haunt of Oscar Wilde ) and created for the occasion a net with little jewels encrusted that was wrapped all around the face like a fruits and vegetable net, because it was! – This of course has been copied ! But never quite the Pigalle way ! 😉

Faithfully yours…,

The last chanteuse