Hélène Amouzou

‘Self-portraiture is a way of writing without words. My aim is to reveal the deepest parts of me.’ Hélène Amouzou

I’ve been revisiting the beautiful, evocative photographic works of Hélène Amouzou. I saw her exhibition ‘Voyages’ at Autograph earlier this year and her images strongly resonated with my own.  The work spans 15 years of her life, yet all depicted within the claustrophobic setting of one room. In the introduction to the exhibition it offers that ‘her gestural apparitions are an attempt to recapture her identity and a sense of belonging.’ The work ‘raises important questions: what does belonging feel like? What does it mean to seek refuge? What does it mean to live in limbo? What burden does the body carry as a result?’

Her images are both gentle and powerful. The softness of focus and the double exposure, yet the harshness of the peeling wallpaper and stark surroundings. The fragility of her body, often clothed in floral dresses that both blend into and jar with the floral wallpaper. Yet at the same time she confronts us, the viewer, by looking directly into the camera. Layers, textures, vulnerability. Longing in her eyes. The suitcases and trunks, open and closed, supporting, containing, framing her body. Stacked in piles in readiness to leave, yet knowing there’s nowhere to go. A sense of near obliteration yet Amouzou is always partly visible. Vulnerable in her nakedness, the peeling wallpaper evoking the peeling of her own skin.

All images © Hélène Amouzou