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Beyond the Ripple Effect and Je t’aime series, exploration is an integral part of my artistic journey. Without it, the gesture would become repetitive, almost mechanical, and creative momentum would eventually fade.
I often work through impulses and intuition. Ideas emerge—sometimes like flashes—and lead me to experiment without a precise plan. I enjoy handling tools, building, assembling, mixing materials, and provoking reactions. Each work becomes a testing ground, a space where error, accident, and surprise carry as much value as the initial intention.
What drives me above all is the pleasure of making, testing, and fabricating. For me, exploration is not about seeking an immediate outcome, but about allowing the process to guide the work. It is within this freedom that forms, textures, and ideas emerge and nourish my practice.
Everything is rooted in my childhood. I grew up alongside a father who was a cabinetmaker, surrounded by the smell of wood and the sound of tools, at the heart of his workshop. From an early age, I understood that making, assembling, and transforming were part of a silent yet fundamental language.
Later on, I worked in construction. I built cabinets, laid tiles, polished and assembled set elements. These gestures shaped my relationship with materials, surfaces, and space, and taught me patience as well as the importance of invisible details.
I then worked for several years as a hairstylist and colorist. Working with color, textures, bodies, and light deeply influenced my perspective. This period taught me to observe, to adjust, and to feel before acting. From there, photography emerged naturally—a medium I still practice today and one that remains at the core of my identity.
Handling tools, playing with materials, understanding volumes, and occupying space are deeply ingrained instincts for me. Exploration is not a posture; it is a necessity. I am fundamentally curious. I enjoy diverting uses, creating unexpected encounters between materials, and allowing craftsmanship to dialogue with intuition.
Creating, for me, is about extending this continuous thread between doing and feeling. And at the root of everything, listening to my intuition and materializing my ideas remains essential—this is where it all begins.
Guy Hamelin
