Valérie Belin (b. 1964) is an internationally acclaimed French artist known for her monumental photographs exploring artifice, identity and representation. Belin’s work challenges viewers to question their inherent perspectives on the world, encouraged by a sense of fantasy and eerie surreality present in her pictures. The V&A invited Belin to make a new series inspired by its photography collection. She chose to explore street photography, focussing particularly on images depicting shopfronts and window displays. The seductive nature of the street has drawn attention throughout the history of photography, including from well-known practitioners such as Eugène Atget (1857–1927), Walker Evans (1903–75) and Lee Friedlander (b. 1934).
24 October 2019
