Ilia Pisarenko

I was born in Krasnodar, in the south of Russia, in 1997. Before Paris I lived in Italy, in Asia and in South America. I was not building a career in those years. I was looking at streets, faces and light in places that had nothing in common, and that is how I trained my eye.

Then I came to France and stopped moving. This is my second year in Paris.

I photograph people here: travellers who have one evening in the city, couples, and the crowd outside the shows during fashion week.

Most of my work is made after dark. At night Paris turns into a set. The tower is gold, the background is black, and a person who is lit properly becomes the only thing in the frame.

During fashion week I stand on the pavement outside Balenciaga, Hermès, Chanel, Margiela and Miu Miu. People arrive there dressed with more intent than anywhere else. I look for the same thing in a traveller in a white dress that I look for in an editor in a leather coat: the line, the posture, the second when they stop performing.

I work in Russian and English, and I get by in French and Italian.

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