Benzine Cyprine

Benzine Cyprine is the name of a women’s group, and also an identifying symbol. The creation of this project results from my compelling need to respond to an existential angst around being female. Thi

Benzine Cyprine

« I want that my difference matters, that it produces something symbolic », Liana Borghi, 1989.

Benzine Cyprine is the name of a women’s group, and also an identifying symbol. The creation of this project results from my compelling need to respond to an existential angst around being female. This gender that is felt to be vulnerable, helpless and denigrated.

Despite this, one can find their own way of embodying their gender beyond the injunctions related to their sex. But nowadays, this approach is neither spontaneous nor innate. It is built.

I then began to photograph symbols of a particular feminine identity that inspires both sensuality and virility. This symbolism is expressed through moments of life of a gang of women. Because the identity group, in my opinion, offers valorization, respect, cohesion and strength of claim in total contrast to the feeling of vulnerability. The Benzine Cyprine group represents this desire for access to enjoyment and happiness by exploding its internalized individuality in the face of the world.

The way I represent Benzine Cyprine and illustrate this concept of female gang is to make believe in their existence. The principle is to arouse enthusiasm and pride against the state of mind they represent. I deliberately mimic the fake documentary by valuing this feminine identity using the same processes borrowed from advertising (attractive aesthetic, graphic charter, slogan, projection into reality…). It's an ironic attitude on my part that follows the rules of a world where emotion draw more attention than intellectualization, where entertainment gets more fascination than the development of a thought.

Yet fiction also has its active role in the way we imagine our future and question reality.

P.S : This twenty pictures is a selection among seventy photographs of this women's instants of life.

© Kamille Lévêque Jégo - Faces
i

Faces

© Kamille Lévêque Jégo - The Spur
i

The Spur

© Kamille Lévêque Jégo - TAG
i

TAG

© Kamille Lévêque Jégo - The Label
i

The Label

© Kamille Lévêque Jégo - Lighter
i

Lighter

© Kamille Lévêque Jégo - "Let your Daughter hanging around"
i

"Let your Daughter hanging around"

© Kamille Lévêque Jégo - Suck ?
i

Suck ?

© Kamille Lévêque Jégo - Bitterness
i

Bitterness

© Kamille Lévêque Jégo - Laundry
i

Laundry

© Kamille Lévêque Jégo - When you've your hands in.
i

When you've your hands in.

© Kamille Lévêque Jégo - RDV (on the printed textile : "Your hand on my ass, my hand on your face")
i

RDV (on the printed textile : "Your hand on my ass, my hand on your face")

© Kamille Lévêque Jégo - "To assign duty to a gender, kills and alienates."
i

"To assign duty to a gender, kills and alienates."

© Kamille Lévêque Jégo - "My body is my property"
i

"My body is my property"

© Kamille Lévêque Jégo - Our Raft
i

Our Raft

© Kamille Lévêque Jégo - Care
i

Care

© Kamille Lévêque Jégo - Knock-knock
i

Knock-knock

© Kamille Lévêque Jégo - Uncompromised
i

Uncompromised

© Kamille Lévêque Jégo - Family's Photography
i

Family's Photography

© Kamille Lévêque Jégo - Ivory Towers, Garbage Towers.
i

Ivory Towers, Garbage Towers.

Latest Projects

Sign up to our weekly newsletter

Stay in the loop


We will send you weekly news on contemporary photography. You can change your mind at any time. We will treat your data with respect. For more information please visit our privacy policy. By ticking here, you agree that we may process your information in accordance with them. This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.