Interview with Aëla Labbé
Please welcome Aëla Labbé,photographer and dancer from Nantes, France. Her tender, often a bit blurry pictures radiate a dreamy atmosphere you can find in old fairy tales. Flower wreaths, soft colours, forests and lakes are among her main motifs.
Where does Aëla take her inspiration from and how did it happen she is now working as an artist? We have “sounded her out” with a short interview.
Why and when did you start making art?
My parents are both artists in their own and singular way, my mum creates with objects and my dad with thoughts, I think this is the reason why… I was raised influenced by their art of living.
When? From a very young age… through dance first many years ago… as for photography I started about two/three years…
What kind of art do you make?
My work is made up of my memories, my emotions, my hopes, my thoughts and my inner turbulences. There is a certain wistfulness about it- a shroud of reverie perhaps.
Where do you draw your inspiration from?
Inspiration overwhelms me ceaselessly- day…and night! To create and to share my vision is a need and a purpose after which i go unwaveringly. It comes from different springs: dance, theatre, cinema, painting, history, mythology, literature, poetry and music, as well as from the place I live in (for my parents’ house is like a museum full of second-hand objects!), nature itself, as well as my travels and my family. Especially my nephews who are all over my galleries.
What does your usual workday look like?
This is a very tricky question! I have unusual workdays … Living from art isn’t an easy thing… and i’m still searching for my own way. I’m working as a freelance (as a dancer and a photographer): i teach contemporary dance, i also do performances and I’ve started to earn a living as a photographer. But i can’t say that this is something i can actually live on. I have another job, I work at night for an old grand-ma which gives me a more regular income. I don’t need much; I just need to be able to continue to create. I’m not there yet and today my future is as blurred as some of my photos…
How do you spend a perfect sunday?
For me Sunday is usually associated with melancholia… a dead day… an end… When I was living in Amsterdam I would take my byke and mingle with an anonymous crowd just to feel their energy…Well… a perfect Sunday is a day with the person I love, good dvds and food! What is your favourite taste of chocolate?
Intense Dark Chocolate
What is your favourite taste of chocolate?
Intense Dark Chocolate
Whom should we interview next?
Joanna Pallaris, I love her timeless work. I’ve never read any interview of her.
If you could have coffee with a famous artist – dead or alive – whom would you choose?
Charlie Chaplin.
What is your philosophy of life?
Daydreaming, dancing, shooting, loving, sharing.