Alain Soldeville

1999 - 2003 Travelling in Asia since 2O years, I was the witness of many religious pilgrimages, where pilgrims mortified their bodies. Coming back in Europe, I wanted to know the motivations of people doing body modifications. During three years I photographed in studio men and women who had tatooes, piercings, scarifications, extreme implants. Most of them want to transform their bodies in works of art. These bodies are considered and looked at very much like landscapes or sculptural objects: some details are revealed by the light, some others are left in the shadows. They are photographed from a distance or at close-range. With their own words, the models express their life choices and their feelings about the way other people look at them.