Beyond appearance and gender expectations
Nicola and Manuel are a duo of non-binary artists and photographers based in Paris. Coming from different backgrounds, Nicola from Architecture and Manuel from Fine Arts, the duo finds synergy in creating shared aesthetics and works together to raise awareness on topics such as identity and gender.
Manuel walks us through their childhood, “As kids, we would spend afternoons in nature, right at the edge of the city, hanging in parking lots or under the highway.” And Nicola offers a look at the dynamics on set, “I don’t feel our work aims to make the subjects more confident or self-aware; this is something we leave to them, and we are happy if it happens.” We witness the effect openness and security have on human beings and how it enables the ability to find love allowing the true self to emerge.
‘For me, photography has been the first medium through which I felt I was able to express myself best, at first, perhaps, because of its directness and immediacy in telling the present’
⎯ Nicola
Hi Nicola and Manuel, how are you doing? I’d love to explore your individual stories and connect them to the current journey as a duo. What led you into photography, and what was the central influence you had entering this sphere?
Nicola: For me, photography has been the first medium through which I felt I was able to express myself best, at first, perhaps, because of its directness and immediacy in telling the present — I have never been a patient person. But it was when I started shooting on film and printing my own work that everything changed for me. It allowed me to slow down and encouraged me to stay more present. Especially since working with Manuel, I started spending more time exploring my craft, giving space to investigate what we want to say and how. The time we spend talking and sharing our perspectives is so important for me. Photography is a medium we are using now, but maybe it will be something else in the future.
Manuel: It’s interesting because we share very similar experiences despite meeting each other just four years ago. We both grew up in serial houses in the suburbs in the North of Italy (the kind of houses that are the same as your neighbors’). As kids, we would spend afternoons in nature, right at the edge of the city, hanging in parking lots or under the highway. These non-binary spaces without a specific nature influenced and structured how we relate to things. It’s fascinating seeing how these spaces are left apart because they don’t have a specific function, and they become terrain vague, waiting to be lived and perceived by the other. Texts and graffitis occupy the walls, and roots and wildflowers carve their way through concrete undisturbed. This idea of ‘in-between’ is something we relate with.
‘As kids, we would spend afternoons in nature, right at the edge of the city, hanging in parking lots or under the highway. These non-binary spaces without a specific nature influenced and structured how we relate to things.’
⎯ Manuel
And the obvious question, how did you meet and decide to work together? What are the main challenges you have working as a duo?
Nicola: It all started with my flatmate, pushing me to go on a date with Manuel after months of talking and sharing ideas on DMs. It fluidly evolved into the love and trust relationship we have today.
Manuel: Yes, and at the time, we were working to make others' images look good, me as a make-up artist and Nicola as art director. For both of us, in the same moment of our lives, it came to the point that the urge to make something authentic for ourselves was louder than what we were doing on an everyday basis. Overall now sharing the same desires and walking towards the same goals is so powerful. It’s also like having a support system everywhere you go.
Nicola: Whenever one of us feels down, the other is there to bring the energy up. I’d say a stressful time was when we were trying to find a label for our roles on jobs. We are very fluid when it comes to ‘who does what’ within the creative process, but somehow we felt there was a certain expectation of us having two separate roles on set. As time went by, we realized this urge to put labels was not coming from us but was more a projection of what we overheard and saw in the contexts we had been to.
‘I’ve always had an obsession with the tactile nature of different matters and how texture can create some visual links in our minds. It’s almost alchemical. That is something we like to express in our work’
⎯ Manuel
Your background is in Architecture for Nicola and Fine Arts for Manuel. Those two disciplines, though not connected, can feed on the visual perspectives and aesthetics of each other. How do you think your background helps you work together and bring a new perspective to the world of photography?
Nicola: I was not very appreciative of architecture as a discipline while I was attending it. In fact, I never wanted to study it, but all the fashion or photography universities were too expensive for my family, and I didn’t manage to get a scholarship. I started seeing its potential once I was close to finishing my studies. I noticed it trained my mind to see things in a wider way, to embrace a project as an ecosystem in which every part matters, and that there is no right harmony in the face of another, as long as the final output makes sense to you. And I still apply this when it comes to creating a single image or a story. We see fashion more as a vehicle rather than the final goal.
Manuel: On my side, I’ve always had an obsession with the tactile nature of different matters and how texture can create some visual links in our minds. It’s almost alchemical. That is something we like to express in our work, whether it's in the garments or the finishing of a wall. I don’t know if the mutual exchange between our academic backgrounds will bring a new perspective to the industry but definitely, it contributes to nourishing our practice in a very personal way. We hope someone will resonate with it eventually.
‘We like to explore the possibility of multiple self-expressions beyond appearance and gender expectations. We prefer our images to leave with a question instead of an affirmation.’
⎯ Nicola
The topic of identity is prominent in your work through the exploration of individuals, their drives and passions, and the definition of the self. How do you work on set, build the connection with models, and help them reach the state of self-awareness and self-expression in the photograph?
Manuel: It’s very spontaneous, whenever the circumstances make it possible we like to create the same space as when we are with our friends; we put on some music, we talk about our hopes and desires. We also like to communicate with them in advance and make them part of the process.
Nicola: Yes, but at the same time, I don’t feel our work aims to make the subjects more confident or self-aware; this is something we leave to them, and we are happy if it happens. It would be pretentious to think our image can portray the entire and truthful self of a person or that a person can show us their full self in a fraction of time. Not only is there a variety of personalities in the world, but there is a variety within each individual, and this is what we are interested in. We like to explore the possibility of multiple self-expressions beyond appearance and gender expectations. We prefer our images to leave with a question instead of an affirmation.
In the ongoing series, you explore 'queer courage' in portraits of people you met in Milano and Paris. As a non-binary duo of photographers, allowing this liberating experience to your subjects, what do you learn from the process, or how does it affect you on a personal or professional level?
Nicola: I think, in everyday interactions, we tend to underestimate the power of mutual softness. Being able to free your energies from any form of oppression is beautiful, but it’s equally important to have a space in which you feel encouraged to do so. Sometimes we don’t even know what we are capable of doing or being until the right condition occurs and makes it possible for us to just let go. Sometimes it’s just really a matter of receiving an opportunity.
Could you provide us a sneak peek into the project you’re currently working on or some of the themes in development?
Manuel: We are currently working on our first body of work, which we imagine could become our first book. But for now, we prefer not to know what shape it will take exactly. It's a long-term exploration of the theme of perception of the other, offering a non-binary glimpse of looking at our surroundings.
