The legendary Dutch photography duo is presenting a retrospective spanning forty years of work in The Hague. More of a manifesto than a retrospective: yes, love can save the world!
A hushed ballet, barely underscored by a musical murmur. An androgynous photographer with four hands, two heads. Four eyes and two cameras. This is the strange spectacle I retain from a photoshoot with an actress, in a past life. Who was she? No doubt famous. No doubt beautiful, but I don’t remember her. So the stars flit across the sky, memory-less. All that remains is the extraordinary vision of this two-headed creature, Inez and Vinoodh, a twin couple, a fantastic duo, a ‘Cocktaudian’ (Cocteau) two-headed eagle, gently enveloping their prey to extract its very essence…
Here they are at the Kunstmuseum in The Hague, honoured in their homeland as it celebrates forty years of extraordinary creations *. Portraits, fashion series, fantasies in the surrealist sense of the term (visual explorations without limits – or almost), the work of Inez and Vinoodh sketches, throughout the galleries, a breathtaking world with a common thread: love for one another, the extreme care taken with whoever finds themselves in front of their lenses. Or to their words. Seated, motionless, focused, in their chairs, the two partners in life and on stage remind me of Gilbert & George in the way they take their time answering questions and, most notably, never interrupting one another, each picking up on, expanding upon, and exploring what the other expresses. And vice versa.
Vinoodh Matadin is perhaps the most intimidating, staring at me intently from behind his dark-tinted glasses; it is less the photographer scrutinising me out of some professional habit than a man of wisdom pierced by visions. There is something strange about seeing them here. Their place here is certainly legitimate, but their physical presence captures the light in a way that blurs the lines. Who is photographing whom? They are handsome, they have charisma; no doubt they know this without making too much of it, and at the end of our meeting, something rare for me, I will photograph them, with their consent. The title of their exhibition, “Can Love Be a Photograph?”, is not, they insist, a question. It is a statement. “For us, the act of taking a photograph is an act of love,” says Vinoodh. “And this exchange with the person in front of us – receiving a part of oneself and a part of that other person through the lens – is a moment of absolute intimacy and beauty,” continues Inez.
It all began in Amsterdam in the mid-1980s, at the Academy of Fashion. Vinoodh Matadin wanted to be a designer. He had his own small brand; he sewed and designed collections. Inez van Lamsweerde was studying at the Academy of Fine Arts. One day, Vinoodh asked her if she could photograph his clothes. “I wasn’t looking to become a photographer,” says Inez. “It just happened from there. ’ They got together and discovered something quite mind-boggling: they’d seen the same films, read the same books, and fed off the
same images. ‘Growing up, we watched Rohmer, Visconti, Godard, Truffaut, Rossellini,’ says Vinoodh. ‘I’ve never seen Star Wars,’ he adds. Inez laughed. That shared love of cinema was the foundation for everything. The decision to shoot as a duo came later, by chance. On a film set, the gaffer had a new camera to test. Inez said: “I’ll give it a go. ’ They started shooting at the same time, each with their own camera. ‘We realised: two visions, two minds. It really is a version 2.0. Everything was better.’
Since then, they’ve been inseparable. When a campaign is published, they don’t know
which lens produced a particular photo. The files arrive together on the computer, their perspectives merging. In New York, in the 1990s, they had access to the spectacular advances in digital technology. Photography would never be the same again. “We realised we had the power to distort time, to disrupt the surface and to play with all these notions of photography as a guarantor of truth.” Those who have posed for Inez & Vinoodh speak of a kind of spell-binding quality. Inez tells them where to look: “Eyes to the nude” or “Eyes to me”. Vinoodhmagnetises with his silent gaze. They say: “It’s a triangle: the subject, the photographer and the viewer. If these three elements are connected, it works.” Their philosophy of portraiture is summed up in a quote from Simone Weil that they often cite: “Attention is the rarest and purest form of generosity. ” “We approach each session by talking with the model, asking ourselves how we can be of service to them so that they feel at ease and leave feeling happier with life.”
In these children of David Lynch and John Waters, the everyday and the uncanny, beauty and the grotesque coexist in a state of constant tension. Surrealism, the enigma of dreams, the realms of the subconscious—it all swirls together. Whenever they choose the definitive image for a series, it is the one where these opposing forces coexist. “It might be something minute, the way part of the lower lip pulls slightly in a different direction to the upper lip, or it might be a very strong gesture. ” Vinood is weary of the current era where scrolling has been elevated to the supreme value: “Not much catches the eye anymore. Only things that are truly personal and carry a story hold up; otherwise, you might as well just put your logo on Instagram. ‘For us,’ adds Inez, ‘billboards have become the new gods because you can’t swipe them away with a finger.’ I ask them what their secret motto is: ‘To be of service to others. To help people.’ Do they switch off from work when they get home? They look at each other, amused. “No. It never stops.”
“And if we were forced to?” “We wouldn’t know who we are anymore.
We don’t know any other way of life.” They have a son; it is he who appears in a photograph at the end of the exhibition, leaning over a glass jar containing a print of their first self-portrait. Like a gateway to the future, like a guardian of something fragile.
Can Love Be a Photograph? With them, yes, certainly.
Lou Doillon Singer/Actress
“There is so much love in them, without a trace of cynicism”
“I met Inez and Vinoodh by chance in New York twenty years ago. My film career, which I’d started at a very young age, had come to a bit of a standstill at 19, when my son was born. I was in a sort of creative limbo at the time, and I found myself booked alongside Selma Blair, Evan Rachel Wood and other lovely girls. I think Inez and Vinoodh chose me because I have a face that’s a bit unusual, and a rather amusing moral and genetic heritage – well, I suppose. The shoot turned out to be extraordinary. Their energy is very particular because, as each of them has their own camera, you never know who’s actually taking the shot. The surprising intimacy they create casts a sort of spell over the set. There’s a very strange calm despite the crowds around us. Inez is the only one of the two who speaks, who tucks a strand of hair behind the ear, or brushes a shoulder, but each plays their part on equal terms. One day, I asked them: ‘When a campaign comes out, do you know whose photo it is?’ No, they didn’t really know…I suppose that both cameras send their images to the computer and that they can sometimes recall a particular look they had at a specific moment, but that mustn’t always be obvious. Both are extremely handsome and possess incredible charisma, which doesn’t hurt. They’re more like people you’d want to photograph than professionals you’d imagine behind a camera! (Laughs.) We’ve worked together a lot, from the Pirelli calendar to a major campaign for Barneys. A portrait published in Vogue France that I liked so much, I used it for the cover of Places, my first album. There’s so much love in them, without a trace of cynicism. They’re people who truly believe in love: the proof is their relationship; the proof is their careers. I believe in it too; we recognised each other in that.”
VICTOR & ROLF FASHION designers
“One plus one equals three, for them as well as for us”
“We met in Paris, at an exhibition in which all four of us had taken part. We knew each other, of course, by reputation, since we all came from the same country. As Dutch people working in the international fashion world, we all knew exactly who the others were, but we had never actually met before this exhibition in Paris. That was the start of a great creative partnership. We have worked a great deal together because we share the same visual language, the same sense of surrealism, and also a taste for glamour, and of course for fashion. For all these reasons, our collaboration simply fell into place. What touches us deeply about Inez and Vinoodh is their ability to constantly reinvent themselves. They are always exploring, an essential quality that we recognise immediately in other creators, as we are creators ourselves. Inez and Vinoodh are a great source of inspiration for us. Not turning their work into a tired formula, constantly seeking out new forms and new visual territories… that’s rare! Beyond the aesthetics, there’s always a powerful idea behind their work that drives the image. That’s what sets them apart from many other photographers. In our successive collaborations, the quality of the work is paramount. Inez and Vinoodh demand the highest level of perfection; everything must live up to their projects. Collaborating with people who strive for excellence is stimulating and enriching. As we ourselves work as a duo, we can understand how they feel: meeting someone with whom the collaboration is so organic, so natural, is something that cannot be explained – and which, moreover, does not need to be explained. It just happens, that’s all. One plus one equals three, whether for us, Viktor & Rolf, or for Inez and Vinoodh.
INDIA MAHDAVI ARCHITECT / DESIGNER
“I exhibited them during Paris Photo at my Project Room"
“It was Mathias Augustyniak who introduced us, thinking it would be fun since we lived on the same street in Paris, just a few doors down. And that’s how they came into my life. I have a space on Rue de Bellechasse, not far from my interior design shop, dedicated to projects of all kinds, which I’ve called the Project Room. During the latest edition of Paris Photo, Inez and Vinoodh asked me if the Project Room was available: they wanted to exhibit some of their images taken with an iPhone 17 Pro Max, exploring the themes of romantic love and intimacy. The Project Room is a very simple space where I regularly invite artists and designers. I like to bring this space to life in connection with what’s happening in Paris. Inez and Vinoodh fit perfectly with the spirit of this place. I love the fact that they work as a duo. The theme of love runs through all their work, and it shows: it is truly beautiful. As I explored the exhibition, I came to understand their creative process: the initial attempts, how things developed. Never linear, but of extraordinary richness. Never predictable.
What they did in the past might seem obvious with today’s tools, but back then, it was so clever, so subtle! Not a predetermined reality, but rather a kind of surreal reality. I love their collaboration with M/M, but also the relationship they have with their models, based on a kind of conversation, of intimacy, and that really shines through in their work. It’s surprising that no artistic collaboration between our two worlds has yet come to fruition. I never like to force fate. That’s just how it is: life means we achieve some things and not others. The exhibition at the Project Room is already, in a sense, a successful collaboration. But, yes, deep down I hope that life will bring about a joint project.”
