Over a period of forty years, Hélène Binet has photographed both contemporary and historical architecture. A comprehensive selection of her work has been recently published by Lund Humphries, with two critical essays. In the book Marco Iuliano details Hélène Binet’s background, from her childhood in the Italian fishing village of Sperlonga and in Rome, through her early ‘discovery’ of architectural photographer Lucien Hervé, to other significant influences, like the collaborations with Daniel Libeskind, John Hejduk, Peter Zumthor and the connections at the AA where she met Zaha Hadid. Martino Stierli sets Binet’s work within the conceptual framework of architectural photography, discussing whether an architectural photograph is an inventory of a building or space, a translation into a two-dimensional image or, rather, an image in its own right; an artifact that loosely relates to the original object or phenomenon. The event will be the opportunity to listen to Binet talking about her most recent works and, in conversation with Dr Marco Iuliano, to explore the challenges of the book in the making.
Hélène Binet (b. 1959) is a Swiss and French photographer based in London. A fervent advocate of analogue photography, she is an Honorary Fellow of the Royal Institute of British Architects (2007). In 2015 Hélène was the recipient of the Julius Shulman Institute Excellence in Photography Award. She was also the recipient of the 2019 Ada Louise Huxtable Prize, awarded to a woman who has made a major contribution to architecture, and is one of the Royal Photographic Society’s Hundred Heroines.
Image Maria Giuseppina Grasso Cannizzo, Casa FCN at night with the architect, Noto, Italy, 2011
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