JONATHAN CHERRY: What did you want to be growing up?
CAMILLE LÉVÊQUE: I definitely wanted to be in the creative industry. I studied Arts and Literature and since high school my work always bounced from fine art to photography until I slowly realized it could be both. I also considered being a professional basketball player at some point which was ridiculous since I’m rather short and sucked at it.
JC: Who or what is inspiring you at the moment?
CL: I have various very strong influences. Sergueï Paradjanov, AndreÏ Tarkovsky, Sophie Calle, Martin Parr, René Magritte, remain absolute references when it comes to visual arts.
Lately I have been following the work of a few young photographers that have been inspiring me loads: Alessandro Ruggieri, Ren Hang, or Lukasz Wierzbowski among others.
JC: What are you up to right now?
CL: Moving to Los Angeles and working on a new website for my non photographic works.
Also in 2014 I created a small self-publishing house with my sister Anna. It is called Orpheus Standing Alone and we are on several projects right now. We just published a pretty neat book of texts, collages and photos about our Armenian roots. And we’ll soon publish a fanzine on the father figure. It’s taking most of our time.
JC: Have you had mentors along the way?
JC: Where are you based right now and how is it shaping you?
CL: I am currently in transit in Paris, where I’m from but will soon be going back to California. I was in Oakland for a while and it was amazing living there. It had stopped photography for a few years and living in Oakland definitely woke up an urge in me to document things and produce pictures.
I am now moving to Los Angeles which I love and am hoping to incorporate a strong and active community to be challenged and stimulated. California’s natural light really is amazing for a photographer and there is something about Los Angeles that makes you want to take pictures of everything, so I am looking forward to being there. Moving a lot shaped me into a stronger more independent person, it is quite an amazing feeling to re-create everything from scratch and being able to feel comfortable everywhere rather quickly.
JC: One piece of advice to photography graduates?
CL: I didn’t graduate myself because I believed school wasn’t for me and still strongly believe it is always better to be « street smart » than « school smart ». Obviously it’d be amazing to be both but what I am saying is even though I value education more than anything I wanted to learn from myself, which I did (I am self-taught in photography) and felt like I was evolving more on the field. That being said, today I miss the fact that school builds you around a community. It would have been nice to have classmates, friends that share interests and goals. I am a total loner and start to realize it is slowing me down to be isolated like that. So yeah, if you study photography try and enjoy the facilities you have (access to great lectures, equipment, showcases) but be sure to always be working on the side, you should learn from other but see for yourself.
JC: If all else fails - what is your plan B?
CL: The idea of having a wide range of life plans freaks me out. In what kind of state are you when you reach plan K? Everything is so unsteady and you never know what life has in store for you so I feel like one should take it one step at a time and adapt to the situations while fighting to stick to its goal. If you have a passion there are no plan B’s, you’ll just make it work.
JC: Is it important to you to be a part of a creative community?
CL: Having thought about it a lot recently, yes. Very much actually. I always thought I wouldn’t fit in a group of creative folks or a community and even thought I am still not sure that I would, I want to give it a try. I keep seeing artists that have great creative surroundings and they obviously blossom from it. You have a network, you spread your work faster and more efficiently, you are stimulated, challenged, it seems highly beneficial. Also you get actual feedback on your work, that are relevant and constructive, especially in criticism.
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