| S T E P H A N I E F R A I S S E P h o t o g r a p h e | PRINT BIO |
french version
Born in 1969 in Carcassonne (France), Stéphanie spent her childhood in Ivory Coast before moving to Brussels, Belgium, where she attended an international French School, the Lycée français Jean Monet.In 1992, after graduating from the Institute of Research in International Relations, in Paris, Stéphanie enroled in Ethnology at the University of Paris VII, where she was part of the photographic ethnology session and discovered the art of photography.
She acquired her self-training through internships in studios such as Harcourt, Métis Images, Pin-Up or with independent photographers such as Claude Gassian. Complentary training in photo labs taught her the entire process from development to final print. Her complete autonomy in the dark room gave her the opportunity to continue with a very personal work.
She is the winner of the Agfa Black&White Contest in 2000, the year Sebastiao Salgado was President of the jury. After a first story on the daily routine of firemen in the Montmartre fire station in 2001, she decides to combine her two passions: photography and culinary art.
Her portraits of famous French cooks (Alain Passard, Pierre Gagnaire, Ferran Adria) are published in the OXO book in London in 2002. Her work “In the intimacy of the kitchen” has been shown in several European capitals since 2003, and in Tokyo during 2005 and 2006. Stéphanie continues to work on this favourite subject of hers.
In 2004 she is in art residence in Naples where she manages to immerse herself in the best pizzerias of Spaccanapoli. Her work on the Neapolitan “pizzaoili” was shown in Paris and Naples in 2005. A book entitled PIZZA FURIOSA with a preface by Tonino Benacquista was published in Naples by the French Institute.
In October 2005 she is art residence in Tokyo where she chooses to shoot in the kitchen of the most famous Sobaya (where Soba, Japanese noodles of water and buckwheat flour, are hand-made). The ancient tradition of soba dates back to the XVth century.
Stéphanie is also the author of “The Star is Dead”, a series of funny and sexy selfportraits in which she appears with fish, shellfish or fowl, and where the start is the – dead – produce … Her selfportraits are shown at the Galerie, 5 rue de la Bourse in Paris in 2006.
Stéphanie starts a new concept called FAIS TOI TIRER LE PORTRAIT (Have your picture taken). You can visit her new website at www.faistoitirerleportrait.com .