Artist Statement Tête-à-Tête is a series of intimate portraits of my two adolescent sons and their friends at home in New York City, begun in the fall of 2005. This work explores adolescence as a liminal state, between childhood and adulthood, and between the feminine and the masculine.
Tête-à-Tête is an on-going series, which reflects the face-to-face of the mother-photographer and the private world of two adolescent sons. This summer I focused on summer vacation days in France, and this fall, back in New York, I began to investigate situations of teen tribal night life which I will explore all throughout 2007.
My inspiration comes from Dutch painting, especially Vermeer's mysterious domestic scenes and Rembrandt's expressive tableaux. I am also influenced by conventions of cinema, especially the dramatic effects of set lighting.
In 2006, excerpts of this series have been awarded in national juried shows, at the Camera Club of New York and in the Golden Light Awards of the Maine Workshops and exhibited in group shows in New York City at the Alfred Lowenherz Gallery as well as in Les Rencontres d’Arles 2006 in France. Recently, I was the winner of the Berenice Abbott Prize for an Emerging Photographer and exhibited thirty prints of this series in my first solo Show at the Julia Dean Gallery in Los Angeles in February of 2007. I was nominated for PhotoLucida’s Critical Mass and Santa Fe’s Fifth Prize of Photography
I was born in France and educated at the Lycée Français de New York, Wellesley College, and the Institut d’Etudes Politiques in Paris. I spent many years in the perfume industry as a Creative Director- 'the nose of the noses'-. I am a strong believer in the synaesthesia of our senses, which has led people to refer to my work as sensual and cinematic. Perfumery and Photography share the charm of invisible emotional thread-memories that I attempt to compose.
I graduated from the 2005-2006 General Studies Program at the International Center of Photography in June of 2006 where I am presently a Teacher’s Assistant in Lighting as well as a Color Theory Class.
Publications include The Photo Review and The New York Times Magazine.
Captions
Martine Fougeron, Nicolas and Adrien Dining, October 2005, C-Print, 15.3”x19.4”
Martine Fougeron, Adrien in his Bedroom, February 2006, C-Print, 15.3”x19.4”
Martine Fougeron, Nicolas Resisting, May 2006, C-Print, 15.3”x19.4”
Martine Fougeron, Adrien on Blue Couth, January 2006, C-Print, 15.3”x19.4”
Martine Fougeron, Teresa and Maria at Halloween, November 2006, C-Print, 15.3”x19.4”
Martine Fougeron, Nicolas and Sara, February 2007, C-Print, 15.3”x19.4”
Martine Fougeron, Capucine and Paul, March 2005, C-Print, 15.3”x19.4”
Martine Fougeron, Nicolas Smoking a Water Shisha, October 2006, C-Print, 15.3”x19.4”
Martine Fougeron, Adrien and Theo in Arles, July 2006, C-Print, 15.3”x19.4”
Martine Fougeron, Adrien Bathing, January 2006, C-Print, 15.3”x19.4”
