Laetitia Heisler - Visual Artist | Analog Photographer - Hamburg

Laetitia Heisler (b. 1991, southern France) is a visual artist and photographer based in northern Germany, where she lives near the forest. Originally a dancer and later a rock singer, her creative journey took a decisive turn after a transformative trip to India in 2018, which ignited her passion for analog photographic experiments.

„The search for the self — and all that it conjures up — is undoubtedly the starting point that drives Heisler to construct images punctuated by the interplay of form and movement. Through her practice of analog photography and performance, her works are born in the realm of the imaginary. The artist seeks to transcend the real and reach a symbolic, undefined space. Heisler's work is deeply feminist, with the representation and liberation of the female body as important dimensions. She narrates the story of identity by delving into the shadowy depths of the unconscious, bringing forth new forms — polymorphous beings that continuously evolve and transform within spaces that are at once instinctive and sensitive. An invitation to invest the margins, the hidden spaces, to lead the public to rethink its relationship to the living and to construct its identity freely.“ (Lorry Besana, Art critic)

Some of her work has been featured in renowned publications such as Die Zeit and Analog Forever and exhibited in cities including London, Edinburgh, and Rome.

To be completely honest about my artistic practice, it feels as if a foreign voice resonates in my head, pushing me to create things I only pretend to understand. I define myself as a multidisciplinary artist, exploring various mediums such as analog photography, performance, dance, and occasionally video.

My approach is rooted in the exploration of these mediums to create visuals, whether still or in motion, that highlight the interconnected cycles of nature and femininity. For instance, during my menstrual cycle, I use my menstrual blood to combine it to self-portraits. This process grounds me deeply in my body and what it expresses. Outside of this period, I lose myself in forests or other natural landscapes, seeking fascinating and captivating patterns to integrate into various portraits. An essential step in my creative process is working in the darkroom, where I develop and print my photographs. This intimate time with my work is crucial, as it allows me to physically engage with each image and take an active part in every stage of its creation. In a world where hyper-digitalization overstimulates me, this return to materiality and slowness helps soothe my naturally hyperactive temperament.

Through raw, intuitive, and dreamlike visuals, I strive to captivate the viewer by presenting patterns and colors that transcend the tangible while raising awareness about women’s experiences. I also aim to engage women themselves, revealing often-hidden facets of femininity, such as dark thoughts or the reality of menstruation. My goal is to break away from the smooth, embellished image often imposed on women and to reveal lesser-known, yet equally authentic, aspects of their essence.

L.Heisler, December 2024

“Through the interplay of opposites highlighted in her work, Laetitia Heisler takes a critical look at the way our societies sometimes push us to construct a binary and clear way of thinking. As she writes:

« I try to evoke a range of emotions, highlighting the duality between insecurity and power, inviting people to appropriate the images.10 »

The artist presents an iconographic discourse that invites us to observe the world with nuance. She encourages us to see and reflect on reality by presenting a dichotomous vision, exploring the very essence of dichotomy.

Originally, this word refers to the construction of contrasting thought based on radical oppositions, but it also describes a mode of plant branching that supports development and growth—similar to the way Heisler’s work unfolds.

In the case of Angry About My Womb Condition, dichotomy, or opposition, is central to the genesis of this piece. The composition is split, reflecting two different truths coexisting in the same space. The image forces us to choose between observing one scene or the other. Yet, when we step back, a third interpretation emerges, instead of focusing on the superimposition of the images, we see their fusion, revealing a new reality.”

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Lorry Besana, October 2024 - Art curator & agent

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"Gender research is an inherent prism in her art. Laetitia Heisler works on femininity and masculinity through their sincerity and androgyny. She explores society's binary vision of gender and the reality of its impermanence.

In all of her series, we can admire her wonder and fascination with the changes and cycles of life. In her series Journey from cultivated chaos to bliss (2018-2022), she highlights the cyclical, impermanent nature of life, which moves seamlessly from well-being to malaise. This can be seen in the colorimetric evolution of the photographs, which go from dark to light, or in the shots, which go from blurry to sharp. This series reminds us that nothing is eternal, that we are happy but will be unhappy, and that we are unhappy but will be happy, and again. In her series Humanoid VegetalisStories (2022) she talks about our relationship and similarity with nature. Laetitia Heisler combines women and flowers, humans and nature, in scenes sometimes inspired by founding myths. She reminds us that we all respond to the same cycle, and that it's important to remember and preserve it. Her research into the menstrual cycle stems from this series, which brings people - and women in particular - closer to nature, and from her evolving vision of the injunctions and obligations attributed to women. There's something obsessive in all of her series, and here it's a response to society's obsession with women's bodies, the desire to control them. She began with photographs suggesting the menstrual cycle, replacing it with plants and flowers, but soon Laetitia Heisler no longer wanted to take the detour of metaphor. So she began to work with her own blood. By working with this material, she tries to make the cycle less dramatic and to relieve the guilt of those who live with it. The artist wants to restore the natural aspect that society has taken away in favor of a dirty, degrading cycle."

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Sarah Maurin, September 2024 - Art curator at Artgirls Gallery (Artgirls Copyright)

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“...I think Heisler is such an admirable dreamer, and of course, it was Man Ray in the 1920s that, in his Parisian darkroom, began experimenting with double exposures and created his famous “rayographs”.

Heisler’s floral self-portraits are exquisite, sensitively composed, and bursting with emotion and lyrical vibrations. Her oeuvre is very dream-like and exudes a sort of ‘Alice in Wonderland’ world. I admire her statment that “I put the film in hot water with flowes and soap and let dry for months before shooting.”

(...)

Laetitia Heisler is a consummate artist, working alone in her darkroom, always experimenting, and keeping alive the tradition of Man Ray and his ilk in the 1920s and 30s. This is an artist that I will continue to follow. And as she herself wrote: “The best picture is the one you will never be able to capture!” Well, I think that perhaps she has?”

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Anthony Fawcett, March 2024
Art curator and personnal assistant of John Lennon & Yoko Ono in the late 60’s

28.11.24 - 08.12.24: Group exhibiton “BBA One Shot Award” at Kühlhaus - Berlin (DE)

16.11.24: Print market "Absalon” at Copenhagen Photo Festival - Copenhagen (DK)

25.10 – 30.11.24: Group exhibition "Salon” at Stills Center for Photography - Edinburgh (UK)

19.10 – 02.02.25: Solo exhibition "Humanoid Vegetalis Stories” at Haus der Fotografie - Husum (DE)

13.09 – 22.09.24: Group exhibition "Nature exposed” curated by Loosenart at Millepiani - Rome (IT)

03.08 – 14.09.24: Group exhibition "Nature" at Glasgow Gallery of Photography (UK)

04.07 -31.07.24: Group exhibition "Yellow" at Glasgow Gallery of Photography (UK)

02.07.24: Projection of one photograph “Gladiatrices” Les Rencontres d’Arles (FR)

14.06 - 31.07.24: Solo exhibition at Kulturstation - Rodenaes (DE)

15.03 - 12.04.24: Group virtual exhibition "Shadows" at Royal Blue Gallery (UK)

08.03 - 14.03.24: Group exhibition "Inner World" at Boomer Gallery - London (UK)

01.03 - 25.03.24: Group exhibition at Analog Art Photography - Leipzig (DE)

07.04 - 30.04.23: Digital exhibition at Akron Gallery - Trondheim (NOR)

10.03.23: Duo exhibition “Art Night” at Pack & Schnack - Niebüll (DE)

04.01.23: Online exhibition : ‘Art of Illusion - Analog Forever Magazine currated bi L.Toboz’

• 09.24: Article in Petty Magazine

• 08.24: "The Issue" in The Luna Collective Magazine

• 07.24: Interview in Lomography web Magazine

• 07.24: “Humanoid Vegetalis” picture in Die Zeit

• 06.24: Article in the Wochenschau

• 05.24: "Golden Number" picture in The Luna Collective Magazine

• 04.24: Article in Optiko Journal

• 03.24: "Behind organs" picture in Analog Forever Magazine

• 12.23: Interview in Analog Forever Magazine

• 11.23: Interview in Lomography Magazine

• 12.22: Interview in Lomography Magazine

• 12.22: TV Show "Comeback der Analogen Fotografie" SAT 1

• 11.22: Article in Trois Points Magazine

• 09.22: Interview in Lomography Magazine

• 09.22: Interview in Alter Analog

• 01.21: Interview in Lomography Magazine
  
  

• 11.24: “MBP AWARD” Nominee

• 11.24: BBA “ONE SHOT AWARD” Nominee - Longlisted 12/50 (DE)

• 07.24: Lomography x Copenhagen Photo Festival "ENTANGLEMENT" Grand Prize Worldwide (DK)

• 05.24: "GLADIATRICES" award Wipplay x On Stage Festival (FR)

• 10.23: Lomography Awards "TEN AND ONE" (AT)

• 12.22: Instant Photography “NOW OR NEVER” award (AT)

• 12.22: Award « BFI X Lomography : IN DREAMS ARE MONSTERS » Second Price (AT)