Morgan Carlier Van Elslande
Morgan Carlier Van Elslande is delighted to have an epicene first name, to which he always adds the surnames of both his parents. Morgan is an inventor of worlds: beyond forms and mediums, his main aim is to tell stories. In search of the intimate, Morgan searches his own heart. Morgan feeds on chimeras and melodies. Romanticism is often Morgan's guide, he sweetens and poetises, but he is afraid of being naïve, or worse, of not being understood. To live better, to live well, Morgan would like to be able to breathe underwater, he loves water, the water of mother earth, the water of feminine power, the water that is all too rare. Under the curls that adorn his forehead like a crown, Morgan gives me the impression that he himself has escaped from the universe he describes.
Morgan Carlier Van Elslande is a visual artist with an MA in Photography from ECAL. He grew up somewhere between Lake Annecy and Lake Leman, and spends a lot of time in water. He received the Prix Profot in 2019 for his diploma work learning how to breathe underwater, in which he projects the nostalgia of a dreamed-of youth through the adolescence of his 15-year-old brother, freer to question and express his identity.
His practice seeks to push back the boundaries of photography, often creating composite and reworked images, and combining it with research into writing, sculpture and performance. Influenced by hydrofeminism, his work questions our times and its social issues in narrative and intimate creations. He also ventures into musical production, creating slightly surrealist sound languages that reflect his photographic approach.
He designed L'Abri's 23-24 visual identity in collaboration with Eléa Rochat.