j. leo

Photographer since adolescence, J.Léo is among the top of emerging photographers.


“Corps Pour Elles” presents the recent work of the photographer carried out over the past 3 years on the theme of the bodyscape (literally body-landscape). It is about using a part of the naked body, here exclusively female, as a starting point to tell stories using small figurines and accessories.


Acting like a trompe l'oeil, the composition staged appears at first glance like an authentic landscape. But on closer observation, we discover that this "natural" setting is misleading. The naked body serves as a background, while artificial elements the focal point. These elements are 1/87th scale model figurines (characters, animals, decor elements with sometimes the addition of sand or smoke) which come to life in the decor attributed to them: deserts with camels, bushes with crocodiles and leopards, construction sites for workers, gardens where they mow the lawn, oasis where pink flamingos come to drink, a soldier on duty… Jean-Léonard Polo's imaginary world comes to life on the model's flesh.


The erotic dimension is neither highlighted nor even sought here, Jean-Léonard Polo wants to create an aesthetic and imaginative universe which will allow the viewer to dream up stories. The prowess in this work comes from hiding the erogenous and sexual parts of the model because that is not the desired goal. The model's body thus becomes a medium for the photographer. In some photographs, the viewer's eye recognizes a breast, the arch of a back, the curves of the buttocks, but the macro shooting takes away any erotic dimension and even makes it difficult to be certain of formal recognition of this or that part of the body. The sometimes visible nipples themselves become apart of the decor, neutrally, the erotic significance is annihilated. The systematic absence of a face throughout the series prevents any identification and accentuates the division between the viewer and the sensual dimension of the photograph. Likewise, we should note the importance of the lights that illuminate and stage the composition.