Valérie Belin

"I come from painting." It is not surprising that Valérie Belin (born in 1964 in Boulogne-Billancourt, France, lives and works in Paris) should describe her work as coming from painting, for it would be curious indeed to call her a photographer. Although she uses a photographer's equipment, her masterful control of the technique enables her to transcend the imprint of reality and preclude reference to the world. Belin tells us nothing about the circumstances out there; she offers no evidence; she advances no arguments and makes no comments. She takes the world and makes pictures out of it. Her latest moves—colour and montage—are therefore perfectly logical. Thanks to digital technology, she can now also impose her will on the pictures she creates in colour. Never has photography been so far removed from naive naturalism and normality.