Mathilda OlmiRosa Canina

In her second book published by Éditions FP&CF, Swiss photographer Mathilda Olmi combines her activist commitment with her visual work. A committed feminist who has been involved in social struggles for several years, the photographer asked people around her to talk about their relationship with their own bodies. Far beyond the dominant clichés conveyed by the specialist press or cosmetics brands, the all-female models pose naked, unvarnished, with their scars and their experiences, revealing a more universal approach to the female body.
In the closed confines of a salon, the models reveal what they wish to show and exhibit. The natural light reveals the details and particularities of each model. Sometimes with modesty, sometimes more assertively, the bodies are revealed, and in the background the individuals who inhabit them. Far from the artificially sensual poses, Mathilda Olmi captures the very essence of each person through postures, gestures, almost an improvised dance in front of the camera.
Still lifes punctuate this portfolio, serving as both pauses and markers of everyday life, evoking the relationship between the exploitation of nature by men and the oppression suffered by women.
The wild rose-hip, or dog rose, "Rosa Canina", a thorny, tenacious plant favoured by witches, echoes the photographer's artistic vision in a militant way.
Over nearly 100 pages, this book offers a selected collection of intimate portraits mixed with still lifes from everyday life, inviting us to contemplate and question the foundations of our relationship with our own bodies.