Natacha Lesueur invents never-before-seen images. Their singularity lies in the strangeness that inhabits them. The faces and bodies she portrays are almost always those of female models. Through various processes, she subverts her characters and portraits by introducing chimeras. Their plastic force places them at the confluence of painting, sculpture and performance.

Since 2009, Natacha Lesueur has been creating photographic stagings using a model to re-enact the character of Carmen Miranda. This Portuguese-Brazilian actress and dancer was particularly famous in the USA in the 1940s, during which time she starred in some fifteen successful films. Carmen Miranda embodied a certain exoticism, wearing hats adorned with fruit, extravagant samba costumes and exuberant sensuality. Her character blends South American cultures indiscriminately, a media construction of the kind Hollywood was the first to promote. Natacha Lesueur captures this icon through meticulous use of costumes, accessories, poses, framing and lighting. It’s a question of reconstruction and reincarnation.