Jalis Vienne : You are one of the most influential artists of our time and undoubtedly one of those who have already left their mark on the history of image and art. How do you experience this incredible success, and what did the child you once were dream of this?
Youssef Nabil : I never really think of what I have achieved, but always remember that I still have a lot to do. I also try to always remember myself as a teenager dreaming of becoming an artist, then later on trying to study art or cinema but refused for two years in a row, in the Academy of Arts as well as the Academy of Cinema in Cairo. So I decided that I am an artist without the need of an approval from an art school. Everything was very uncertain and for years, before having my first solo exhibition in Cairo in 1999. It is always very moving for me to look back and remember that moment in my life.
J.V : Has there been a point in your career when you questioned the meaning of this journey and felt like giving it all up? What has kept your passion alive during this long travel you seem to be passionately embarked upon? Do you have any rituals for motivation and inspiration to share ?
Y.N : It’s true that during a career of an artist, you have moments when you need to sit with yourself and think about it all. Especially after experiencing success, and the idea of always having to produce for the market. For me it is very important to keep working without thinking too much of the market, because what happens to many artists, is that they are tempted by what pleases more and what sells mores, and they forget our main role, which is staying true to ourselves, of only producing work that will add to our career and to our story. I think of many great artists, they left very little work behind, or they died young, but the work they left is enough to say what they wanted to say, it even became a reference because it was true and unique. I try to always keep that idea alive within me, and to remember myself as a younger artist, before the craziness of the art market and the art world.
J.V : Your work has sometimes been characterized as provocative or shocking, even though it exudes extreme mildness and seems to be nothing more than a proposition. Did you sometimes seek provocation in your work, or is it a mirror of our own limits? What is your relationship with norms?
Y.N : My work is a reflection of my thoughts, of my life and of my own concerns with the issues of our time. I am also telling a story, my own story. I don’t really seek provocation. It is just my way of seeing things and saying things.
J.V : You’ve had the opportunity to portrait in your career many pop and art figures of our time, from Catherine Deneuve to Alicia Keys. How do you navigate through all theses different and strong personalities to input this unique and universal eye that is very recognizable in your portraits ?
Y.N : I need to love the idea behind a person to be able to photograph her or him. In the case of photographing actors or other artists, I need to love their work. Some people - famous or not - I can’t photograph, because I simply don’t agree with their idea.
J.V : I also think about this iconic series of portraits you did with the mother of living Art, Marina Abramović, around the theme of transformation, where we can discover her in a form of possession through the images. This notion of spiritual movement and reincarnation seems to be very important in your work, can you discuss your relationship with this ?
Y.N : I believe that I am a spiritual person and that is the way I have been always, believing that we are all souls and spiritual beings with a human experience. We are here for a certain limited time then we will all leave. In a way we are all “visitors” to our own lives, experiencing for a while the idea of being alive, then we will go. I talk about it all the time in my self-portraits. I also spoke about it in my recent video “The Beautiful Voyage” where I am for the first time in front of my camera on film, along with Charlotte Rampling, who I love as an actress and as a human being. Marina Abramović, who is a great artist I admire and a great friend, is also very spiritual, we went together to Brazil in 2012 in a spiritual trip that she filmed.
J.V : Do you consider Art as a form of guidance in theses transformations of ourselves ? Did you personally experiment that with a specific artist that inspired and guide you in the past ?
Y.N : For me, Art is a very sacred tool, and should be used carefully to heal the issues of our time. It should have a purpose, mainly to elevate our souls to a higher level and to show us a better version of life. You can use that tool to almost heal people. And that is what you feel after visiting a museum, you go out and you feel better. So it definitely nourishes our souls and has a great impact on our feelings and how we see life. It is like a white magic.
J.V : From film to photography, your work is characterized by his extrem precision of your subject and their social contexts and paradoxically their impressive timelessness. How would you explain this convergence? How do you absorb both the passage of time and the reality of our present to make your images universal?
Y.N : I think by staying true to yourself in your work, and listening to your own heart with everything you make, this reaches other people’s hearts too. So people feel that. It is like in music, you can cry over a song that you don’t understand the lyrics, simply because of what the voice of the singer and the music are making you feel.
J.V : In today's digital age, where photography and imagery are more accessible than ever, how do you see the role of traditional, hand- crafted processes in art, and what do they bring to your work that digital techniques cannot?
Y.N : In general, I think that the more we give power to the machine, the more we become less human. So it is very important to keep our feelings as humans present in photography as an art, to try to preserve that medium as we knew it, from going away. The AI in photography is another story. It doesn’t make me worry as much as it makes me sad about where things are going in general. I am not a nostalgic person, but it is important to look at the past to learn where we should be heading in the future. It is important to follow the right direction. Now that I see everything becoming super digital, also with the democratization of photography. Everyone suddenly has a camera now on his phone, with super high resolution, and everyone is suddenly a photographer on Instagram, which I have nothing against. But we live in crazy times where we should do everything to keep the art of photography away from all that.
J.V : To build on this notion of savoir-faire and techniques, I’m thinking crudely about the people who purchase your artworks which are undoubtedly captivated by this aspect. Do you know who your clients are and do you have friendly relationships with some of them?
Y.N : My work is sold through galleries, so in general I know who are the collectors who buy my work. I don’t know all of them personally, but I meet them occasionally and some become friends.
J.V : Do you think that an artist need to have business in mind when create or do you feel that sometimes it’s can tarnish the purpose of the message ?
Y.N : I don’t think artists should think of sales or business while creating. That would be a killing of their spontaneity, but also of their freedom to create what they feel.
J.V : To finish this conversation, I would like to quote Thierry Hermès who said « Luxury is what can be repaired » . This notion of repair, whether it is personal or societal, seems to be very important in your work. Could you provide us with your own definition of luxury?
Y.N : For me luxury is in the idea of comfort, but "Freedom" is also a luxury.
