From 5 February (opening on 4 February at 6 pm) to 24 April 2022 at the Musée des beaux-arts in Le Locle, ECAL presents the exhibition "Smells Like Queer Spirit" created in collaboration with Jean Paul Gaultier by third-year Bachelor Photography students, under the direction of Florence Tétier and Nicolas Coulomb (Novembre).
Namsa Leuba and Erwan Frotin, two graduates of the Bachelor Photography programme at ECAL, will also be honoured with two monographic exhibitions.
In the 1980s Jean Paul Gaultier overturned dress codes and showed the porous boundary between masculine and feminine. The fashion designer playfully reversed roles, overturned gender and designed silhouettes that combined masculine sensitivity with feminine power. When they were launched, the brand’s perfume bottles also broke with the androgynous fashion of the 1990s. Now iconic, these served as the starting point for photographic exploration by students of the Bachelor in Photography at ECAL/University of Art and Design Lausanne. For this research project directed by Florence Tétier and Nicolas Coulomb – under the watchful eye of Claude Emmanuelle Gajan-Maull, consultant LGBTQIA+ – the photography class questioned the human body and its representations. The images created in 2021 by the 12 students relate to themes of pride and tolerance. These works show that commitment to a more inclusive society also relies on images.
A publication, co-edited by ECAL x Jean Paul Gaultier x Novembre and designed by Baptiste Gerbelot Barillon & Jean Marques, is also being published to coincide with this exhibition.
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