Posing with Strangers: Jeanne Tullen’s Photographs

Photographer Jeanne Tullen stages portraits in a combination of casual snapshots and performance art, finding strangers to pose with her as if the pictures were part of a family photo album. In her series Pedro she appears with a “fake boyfriend”; in L’invitation she invites herself to dinner with strangers and photographs the encounters. Tullen’s work has a casual authenticity that makes it easy to forget these are staged photos.

See more of Jeanne Tullen’s photography below.

A recent graduate of ECAL (cole cantonale d’art de Lausanne), a Swiss art school, Tullen considers herself a photographer rather than a performance artist. But her series Pedro is the best example of how Tullen finds the performative extreme of self-portraiture. She writes that the series was inspired by the desire to move on from a previous relationship (the ex that gives the series its name). Tullen was in Warsaw for a workshop, and wanted to find a candidate for the project. She finally found her partner through Facebook — “after sending about 100 emails” — and spent every day with him for a week. She writes that shooting Pedro was the most intense experience she has had, explaining “when you meet a stranger, you are free of any kind of expectations,” and that you can push your own boundaries.

From the series Pedro

(Jeanne Tullen / ECAL)

Tullen’s series L’invitation has the same performative spirit, but captures a series of strangers rather than a specific relationship. Tullen chose an apartment building, and went door to door, introducing herself and “suggesting” they invite her to dinner. “Some of them would laugh and be surprised,” she writes. “Then of course some would get afraid or offended and just lock me out, but I was prepared for that.” This series doesn’t share thecandid feel ofPedro, but the portraits still capture a natural interaction that doesn’t look like a group of strangers.

From the series L’invitation

(Jeanne Tullen / ECAL)

You can see more of Jeanne Tullen’s work on her website, including her most recent work Womb.

From L’invitation

From the series L’invitation

(Jeanne Tullen / ECAL)

From the series L’invitation

(Jeanne Tullen / ECAL)

From Pedro

From the series Pedro

(Jeanne Tullen / ECAL)

From the series Pedro

(Jeanne Tullen / ECAL)