Jean-Bernard Thiele

Ciwara Calao

2022

JB was born in France in 1970, and currently lives with his family in Paris. JB Thiele's long career in photography has encompassed fashion, advertising and celebrity portraits, collaborating with some of the world's most renowned brands (Cartier, Mont Blanc, L'Oreal, Sephora, L'Officiel and others). His work has been published in a number of global magazines and has appeared in many campaigns all over the world. More recently he has expressed his passion for photography in art, delving deeply into transformative shapes. His original personal project « CIWARA » inverts the concept of cross-cultural art by revisiting the African mask, whisking the viewer instantly into a universe that knows no spatiotemporal boundaries. Supple bodies rise out of large format canvasses, iridescent in a black and white filter. Female silhouettes fill the frames with their fluid postures, appearing almost monumental. On fragments of naked skin, two elements take centre stage, transforming these seemingly tender pictures: sculptural tattoos, composed of letters and shapes; and African masks, ensconcing the model's heads. A veritable concentration of grey nuances, curves, and forms, these two hypnotic elements challenge us deeply.