- Nathalie Daoust
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Nathalie Daoust
Carlton Arms Hotel room, New York, 1997
Hotel Louise room, Berlin, 2006Nathalie Daoust is a Canadian photographer who was born in Montreal, the 31 of March of 1977, where she studied photography between 1994 and 1997 at the Cégep du Vieux Montreal. Since its inception she was interested in the most intimate and darker aspects of female sexuality and its manifestations, dismantling gender stereotypes and the limitations of gender biases.
Contents
Biography
In the late 90s Daoust first broke onto the scene photographing the themed rooms of the Carlton Arms Hotel (New York), which resulted in her first published book (New York Hotel Story).
Daoust uses the traditional method of darkroom photography in insatiable and inquisitive ways, produces a body of highly experimental work.
Daoust’s photography tries to portray the exploration of female sexuality and the desire for escapism. Her work plays with the dynamic of the public and the private, making room in the otherwise heavily regulated public sphere for the deepest of censorable human emotions pertaining to desire.
Whether recreating the atmosphere of the dream world of love hotels in Tokyo, the calmness of the snow-capped Swiss Alps, the most intimate aspects of the psyche in Berlin, or the taboo of the sex trade in a Brazilian brothel; Daoust’s finely carved art does retain the element of surprise rarely found beyond the spontaneous.
Hotel Louise room, Berlin. 2006Even the fetish, present in Daoust’s current work, escapes condemnation: Though its essence is re-enacted time and again in the exhibiting of her catalogue, it is never caged, nor tamed or aimed at our enjoyment. Daoust’s subjects are not there for shock value nor do they perform our fantasies or satisfy our curiosity as perverse sexual rarities paraded in a contemporary version of the bygone freak show.
Daoust’s techniques successfully sustain the realm of the in-between where we do not contend with the limitations of the real, nor the chaotic nature of dreams but in its place are presented with the factual vagueness of the world as it would be if it just was. As if an illusionist, Daoust is capable of conjuring up a vision of a world without borders, which, prevalent as it is in her work, is evocative of the universal appeal of escapism and transformative in that it invites introspection.
Nathalie Daoust´s work has been exhibited internationally and has been the subject of many publications and awards.
Awards
2009 - Grand Prize for Mountain Photography Competition, The Banff Center, Canada
2003 - Grand Prize for the Lux Québec, Canada
First prize for the Lux Québec, Photography Book category, Canada
First prize for the Lux Québec, Personnel Research category, Canada
Grafika Magazine Contest, finalist, book category, Canada
2002 - The next generation of visual communication, CMYK magazine USA
The best of photographer's annual 2002, Photographer's Forum magazine USA
2001 - Prize for the IIAC/IIPC 6th international Art/Photo contest, Japan
First prize for the Lux Québec art photography category, Canada
Prize for the international Nikon competition, Japan
Helmut Newton competition, PHOTO magazine France
Duane Michael 18th Annual competition, PhotoMetro magazine, USA
Grants2010 - Project grant Canada Council for the Arts, Canada
Travel Grant to Vienna, Canada Council for the Arts
Travel grant Winnipeg Conseil des arts et des lettres du Quebec, Canada
2009 - Promart Grant (Singapore), Foreign Affairs Canada
Travel Grant China, Canada Council for the Arts, Canada
2007 - 6 months residency grant with the Christian Merian Foundation, Conseil des arts et des lettres du Quebec, Switzerland
2006 - Portfolio Grant Brazil OQAJ, Canada
Promart Grant (Spain), Foreign Affairs Canada
2002 - Art Grant from La Fondation Desjardins promotion section, Canada
Art Grant from La Fondation du Maire de Montréal, Canada
2001 - Art Grant from Jeune Volontaire, Canada
Publications
New York Hotel Story (book, 2003)
D magazine-Argentina
Vision magazine - China
Build magazine - Germany
Zoom magazine - Poland
Shots magazine - USA
Dienacht magazine - Germany
Eyemazing magazine - The Netherlands
Japanzine magazine - Japan
Dp Arte Fotográfica - Portugal
Lighthouse Wire magazine - Canada
Artension magazine - France
Juliet Art magazine - Italy
ProfiFoto magazine - Germany
Silvershotz magazine - Australia
Intro magazine - Bulgaria
Drome magazine - Italy
Commercial Photography magazine - Japan
Vision magazine - China
Art Le Sabord magazine - Canada (2008)
PhotoWorld magazine - China
Picszine, photography magazine - China
Chip photography magazine - China
Eyemazing Photo magazine - Holland
Front magazine - Canada
Zoom photography magazine - Italy
Fotnightly journal of Contemporary Art, Atelier-Czech Republic
Art magazine Cheese - Estonia
FOTOSITE magazine - Brazil (2007)
NY Arts magazine - USA (2006)
PhotoArt magazine - Czech Republic
Photosélection magazine - Canada
Enroute magazine - Canada
Pozytyw Photo magazine - Poland (2005)
FOTO magazine - Poland
Zoom Photography magazine - Poland
Afisha magazine - Russia (2004)
Cyfrowa Foto - Poland
PHOTO magazine - France
Border Crossings art magazine - Canada
Photo Sélection magazine - Canada
PhotoEd magazine - Canada
Photographer's Forume - USA
British Journal of Photography - England
Art Jonction - France
PHOTO magazine - France
Shots magazine - USA
CMYK Photography magazine - USA (2002)
Photographer's Forum magazine - USA
Shots USA photography magazine - USA (2001)
L’Actualité magazine - Canada
Photo Sélection magazine - Canada
PHOTO magazine - France
Applied Art magazine - Canada
PhotoMetro magazine - USA
Numero Uno magazine - Australia (2000)
Photo Sélection magazine - Canada (1997)
External Links
Official Website Nathalie Daoust
Interview Nathalie Daoust in Youtube
Hotel Luise in Berlin, room Cabaret decorated by artist Nathalie Daoust
More Intelligent Life Interview
Text from Trish Pomar
Categories:- 1977 births
- Living people
- People from Montreal
- Canadian photographers
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