Bianca Pilet
04/08
This exhibition traces six years in the professional life of Lucinda Timmerman as seen through the lens of Bianca Pilet. Though separated by age and background, the two have forged both a close friendship and a highly productive working relationship, beginning when Lucinda was a schoolgirl of just 15. Though just a regular kid from the streets and not by any means a professional model, Bianca was immediately captivated by the young Lucinda’s strength, beauty and tough, intense attitude. Impressed, she hired Lucinda Timmerman for an I-D Magazine fashion shoot. There was an immediate chemistry. Lucinda became the focus of every image, drawing the viewer into the frame through sheer force of personality. This shoot marked the start of a fertile time for Bianca.
The exhibition documents this long-standing fascination, featuring photographs of Lucinda from fashion, couture, advertising and exhibited work. It is a personal document as much as it is a record of interesting commercial pursuits. As well as Bianca’s professional pieces and artworks, it features a photo of the four-year old Lucinda, a family snap Bianca included as it shows Lucinda’s vigour clearly present at an incredibly young age. Bianca Pilet is a fashion photographer and artist. Though she enjoys frequent collaborations with other creatives, she’s also highly respected and successful in her own right. Her career spans fifteen years and includes many high-profile exhibitions. However, this show is perhaps particularly special for Bianca as it marks the release of her first book. Called simply Lucinda Timmerman, it will be available at colette in a signed limited edition of 250 copies.
Throughout her career Bianca Pilet has made photographs that take courage and patience. She waits, waits to see and pinpoint that one instant that resonates the awkward beauty of natural circumstances. Her composition finds that arrangement that we may rush past without noticing. It's a moment of heightened verisimilitude. Pilet’s work demonstrates a mastering of two intricate tools of being a photographer: one is the camera, the other subject. To make images of such insight, one must have an eye not only for balance and light, but also for human and natural qualities.
Pilet works with her subjects and senses what part of them, what shape of them, what incarnation of them will say the most in a piercing and memorable way. This requires a sensitivity toward form and emotion. We can sense the defiance and brutal honesty. The images trigger a sensation that Pilet rigorously sets out to record and deliver to us, emotionally stung, making us pause and take notice of ourselves in the frantic hurry of our looking natural.
