Today we’d like to introduce you to Igor Elie-Pierre.
Igor, we appreciate you taking the time to share your story with us today. Where does your story begin?
As a kid, I liked the idea of freezing moments. The best gift for me was always a camera, before any kind of video games or toys. However, I believe that browsing through fashion and beauty magazines and drawing the most beautiful faces I could find in them is what started everything. For me, this was an initiation to exploring the richness of human expression, which I was tenacious enough to pursue through now colorful and flowery portraits, photography, cinematography, and fashion work.
Design and art school incited me to think about an audience rather than simply create for my personal satisfaction as an artist. It also pushed me to provide “design answers “to my own “art questions”. I started to research more and to think critically when creating. I started to question the psychological, moral, or social message/impact that my work carries.
I slowly discovered that I was deeply passionate about fashion. I very much observe people around me. I scan their look, the outfits they are wearing. I examine their hairstyle, their shoes, their socks, the shapes, and the materials that constitute their garments. I study the physical and emotional components that people carry. Do they make a statement when put together as a whole? Is there a particular feature that is irrelevant or contradictory? What do they tell about these people’s state of mind? This particular obsession for fashion persuaded me to showcase in 2018 my first fashion collection, Eyeseeyou, at Fashion Art Toronto and at Vancouver Fashion Week Spring/Summer 2019.
I have now lived in 9 different cities. I have developed an empathic eye for those around me, which I carry over into my artistic universe through emotional representations of characters, a bit like a lyrical poem. I want to create work that uplifts and possibly contributes to the well-being of others.
With my cross-disciplinary experience, my graduate studies in business, and acquired skills in various multimedia tools and software, I consider myself a creative project manager and an innovative problem solver who just wants to make things happen; and for tasks that go beyond my capabilities, I collaborate with others.
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
Throughout my career as a freelance multidisciplinary designer and artist, I have often suffered from appearance preconceptions. As a minority in most spaces and someone who moves a lot, I always have had to exert additional effort to make my voice heard. Also, you’d think that my versatility always plays in my favor; however, in the different spaces that I evolve, people tend to put me in a box or to put me out of “the box”. I might be considered as just a photographer in fashion spaces, as just a designer in music spaces, as just a media producer in design spaces, or an artist in business spaces. I have to admit that, to this day, I often find it difficult to put credentials to my name as I can’t say what discipline I am best at. It takes me some time to respond to What do you do for a living? Questions as people often expect a single answer. However, I do my best to minimize the need to define my practice, and this is what keeps me going.
Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
My work spans multiple disciplines such as fine arts, design, photography, fashion, media, performance arts, and music. I am mostly known for my fashion photography work. After fashion week (Paris Fashion Week and NYFW), I go home with thousands of photos. I try to share most of them, and they are appreciated by many. Seeing a ton of positive responses to my work is encouraging, and it fuels the constant development or progression of my intent.
I want the people I photograph to look giant, powerful, imposing — and kind at the same time — projecting a positive energy that can be mirrored on the viewer. I want the viewer to not only empathize with the subject but also feel that same energy within them as if they were the one in the image. So, finding the perfect shot is always looking for that specific moment where my subject possesses all of those features at the same time. The facial expressions, the gestures, and the angle at which the Fashioned body is photographed play an important role in achieving this.
I am also known for my work in fine arts and fashion independently. I have met a lot of people photographing events and DJing. However, in the near future, people are going to start seeing more music, performance, and cinematography work from me.
I work as a branding designer. My skills are a good resource for creating visual identity and multisensory communication strategies for brands and companies. I advocate for more humanity in the messages we spread as personal or commercial brands. As much as I like working with my hands, I enjoy working with software, and I am also a hardware/gadget geek. I would not pick one type of work over the other. In the end, they all feed each other.
My versatility and the fact that I am passionate about research — before attempting to create anything — is what sets me apart from others.
Can you tell us more about what you were like growing up?
I grew up in a very multicultural household. I was exposed to fine arts early by my parents. Art and creativity was already in my family. This environment helped me develop my own artistic skills by starting to paint and draw at an early age. The art books, fashion, and beauty magazines were extremely helpful in teaching myself to draw, researching, and becoming an aesthete. Music is a major part of my creative process. I was first exposed to the music of jazz artists like Herbie Hancock, Al Jarreau, George Duke, Chick Corea, and Grover Washington Jr, just to name a few. I later explored other genres on my own. Albums like Nevermind (Nirvana), Parachutes (Coldplay), Minutes to Midnight (Linkin Park), Morning Glory (Oasis), as well as a vast collection of Caribbean and Latin records really sparked my desire to be a rockstar. At some point, I thought I was going to be a musician. I feel guilty for saying that, but I used to judge the CDs by their cover and packaging designs because I was already visually inclined and design-minded then. I was fascinated by performing arts as a child. I used to wait for my older sister in the lobby of her ballet school; the mixture of the sounds of the dancers’ footsteps, the classical piano, and the shouts of the instructors—while not being able to see what’s happening in the practice studio — are forever recorded in his auditive memory. This experience is the main inspiration for my future project that merges electronic music, dance, and cinematography.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.igoreliepierre.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lepticondigor/
- Youtube: http://www.youtube.com/@igoreliepierre
- SoundCloud: https://soundcloud.com/igoreliepierre
Image Credits
Alice Scheuerman (last photo with the fashion collection and models)
