Documentary: Sophie Calle

Sophie Calle (born 1953) is a French writer, photographer, installation artist, and conceptual artist. Sophie Calle’s work is distinguished by its use of arbitrary sets of constraints, and evokes the French literary movement of the 1960s known as Oulipo. Her work frequently depicts human vulnerability, and examines identity and intimacy. She is recognized for her detective-like ability to follow strangers and investigate their private lives. Her photographic work often includes panels of text of her own writing. 

During Visual Studies, I was shown a Documentary about an artist called Sophie Calle. It was a documentary on her life, and I have to say I was quite dazed after watching it. She is a very interesting woman, a little bonkers maybe, but I found the documentary interesting. Although, what the documentary showed the viewer may have been fiction, even then. As it Sophie Calle controlled what we saw in the documentary. Sophie Calle liked to live her life in personas and often lived in different phases. I did enjoy the documentary and I think Sophie Calle is an important artist to learn about and celebrate.

Suite Venitienne 1979, is a series in which she disguised herself and followed a man she had previously met around the city, photographing him. She identifies him as Henri B., and these are the images below.

Suite Venitienne, 1979

Another series we see in the documentary is The Shadow 1981, which consisted of Calle being followed for a day by a private detective, who she had told her mother to hire. It was, in Calle's words, an attempt 'to provide photographic evidence of my own existence'. Aware of her follower, she also wrote about in frequent journal entries throughout the day. Such projects, with their suggestions of intimacy, also questioned the role of the spectator, with viewers often feeling a sense of unease as they became the unwitting collaborators in these violations of privacy. Moreover, the deliberately constructed and thus in one sense artificial nature of the documentary ‘evidence' used in Calle's work questioned the nature of all truths.

The Shadow, 1981

The Hotel (1981) Sophie Calle got a job as a maid in a hotel. While working there, before tidying up the room she photographed it. Capturing the occupants clothes, unmade bed, rubbish and whatever else they brought with them on their journey, giving us an insight to that anonymous person's life. Acting as a spy.

The Hotel, 1981

One thing that stood out to me in the documentary was her work The Chromatic Diet, where Sophie Calle prepared meals for each day in colour-coordinated ways. These images are somewhat satisfying, in the sense that everything is neat and perfect. Each photograph is placed in the exact same placement, with food in the same arrangement too. They make very attractive and appealing images.

The Chromatic Diet, 1998