Best known for his international photojournalism, Olivier Laude is making a new name for himself with a series of carefully staged art photographs that explore human images and stereotypes. In the Spark episode “From Life,” watch Laude in action, casting subjects such as lumberjacks, hobos and Inuits.
Laude often casts his friends and acquaintances, and sometimes just people he meets on the streets, as characters in his elaborately conceived tableaux that spoof ethnographic portraits. He goes to great lengths to find the perfect props, costumes and location. For one shoot, he costumed his friend Marisa, a Filipina American, in a blue dress and fur-collared coat. Unconventionally shooting at high noon on the San Francisco Bay salt flats, he conjures up a desolate image of a lone figure, fish in hand, standing against a vivid blue sky on an icy landscape. Laude’s dioramic photographs make ironic commentaries on art, fashion and politics.
Laude’s ever-changing interests have led to exploration of a wide array of subjects. A preoccupation with stereotypes of masculinity led to a series of uproarious lumberjack portraits. Inspired by Chinese propaganda posters, Laude created a series featuring young women as revolutionary peasants, their hair tied neatly in braids, with rifles or Mao’s Red Book in hand. “I choose to portray specific people in specific situations,” Laude says. “But I find it amusing that we’re all stereotypes of each other and we all see each other. I don’t know, I’ve always liked that in life, when someone surprised you. When you have a particular vision of who someone is, or what they’re like, or what they might be thinking, and they completely prove you wrong.”
Born in Corsica, a Mediterranean mountain island, Laude moved to the United States when he was 15. He traveled the world photographing for “The New York Times Magazine,” “National Geographic Adventure,” “Time,” “Newsweek” and many other publications before settling in San Francisco, focusing for the past two years on more personal work. His photographs are often composed of crisp, vibrant colors and always reflect his unique vision of inspiration in everyday situations. Something as simple as the look of someone in his neighborhood, the Haight-Ashbury district, will spark an idea. “Sometimes, I just go scouting, and I’ll see something and, for whatever reason, an image will pop up in my mind. And I don’t know why it’s there or what it’s for.”
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