IN CONSTRUCTION

After connecting over similarities in their aesthetics and having an inspiring discussion earlier this year in Brussels, photographer Gerardo Vizmanos and fashion designer Cyril Bourez knew that it was time to work in tandem. Looking at the notion of construction - both in terms of the process of making the garments and the creation of self as an individual - the duo collaborated with talented dancer and model Wilchaan Roy Cantu on a series of dynamic images that evokes the thrilling juxtaposition between tension and serenity.

To celebrate the project’s premiere on Behind The Blinds, we spoke to Bourez and Vizmanos about their collaborative process, working with Wilchaan and the beauty in ambivalence.

How did you first meet and what drew you to collaborating together on this project?

Cyril Bourez: I discovered Gerardo’s work on Instagram and I think I was at some point compulsively liking all his pictures when he wrote to me saying he could see some similarities in our aesthetics and that if at some point we could create the opportunity, he would be open to working together. I was thrilled! In March, we met in Brussels because Gerardo was shooting in Belgium and started to discuss what is important for us in our practice, images and the idea of intimacy, and how would it be possible to create a series of images together. A few days later, Gerardo sent me a concept for the shoot and by a very beautiful coincidence, it was exactly the idea I was working on for my next collection: showing work in process, in construction, an atelier. So it was clear we had to make it happen.

What do you admire about each other's work?

Gerardo Vizmanos: I admire Cyril´s ability to express his personality in his fashion work. I see elements of construction working with lines, colours and fabric, as well as elements of deconstruction questioning some stereotypes that make his work very dynamic and interesting with garments that are very wearable. I see many things I´d feel very comfortable wearing.

CB: I admire Gerardo’s work because I find it complete - the ambivalence of it makes it complete. For me, every picture he takes stands for itself. It doesn’t need anything else, no text, no context. I find his sense of composition very strong, his ways to play with the body very smart, and his vision of intimacy very subtle. Also, I believe his work is not romanticising intimacy - that makes his pictures very modern.

What is the concept behind this series of photographs?

GV: The central idea was the notion of “construction”. The concept of the self on individuals and how it’s constructed is very central to my photography work and we used this idea of construction as part of a process as a reference. We talked about forensic documentation of a process as a way to make a personal reading of a garment - sketches, fabrics, sections, body and movement as elements to find the connecting dots between Cyril´s and my work.

What are the emotions or mood that you wanted to evoke with the images?

GV: My emotions. I always try to find my own emotions when I work on a shoot. In this particular one, there was an element of objectification of the model who was seen as a sketch, but making him a subject as well. While shooting these images, I was thinking about how a line or sketch can bring emotions later when they are transformed into a garment. In the same way, I was focused on the lines of the model to search for emotions.

CB: We wanted the pictures to be ambivalent. In a way, there’s the idea of the study: of the body, of the garment making; almost something descriptive, like a drawing. But there’s also the incarnation, Wilchaan as a person and the emotions he triggered in us. The gestures and compositions carry these different filters, and the series plays with this ambivalence of the narrative.

Why did you want to work with Wilchaan on this project?

GV: Wilchaan is an amazing dancer and someone with whom many photographers would surely love to work with. I often work with dancers and I´ve been in contact with Wilchaan for a while. Both his skills as a dancer and his extraordinary artistic personality were very interesting to me. His dance and expression combine the intensity and kindness I always want to show in my images. My work often requires forced positions and tension on the models, and that quality of kindness that Wilchaan has and his features are great for creating photos with the balance between calm and tension I want to express my ideas.

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