These photos document a Parisian teenager’s coming-of-age

Taking inspiration from the ascetic beauty and drama of filmmaker Robert Bresson’s onscreen worlds and the compelling, narrative-suffused paintings of Shannon Cartier Lucy, Elise Toïdé’s images are likewise composed with an eye for storytelling and enchantment. 

The Paris-based photographer’s latest project, Gabrielle, is a coming-of-age tale capturing moments in the real life of a Parisian teenager as she moves inexorably towards adulthood. The pair “connected right away” in 2019 when Toïdé was working on her book Les Vagues and needed a teenage model. What initially began as a few proposed shoots evolved into a distinct and ongoing body of work as the photographer began to feel increasingly curious about the changes she noticed in Gabrielle over time. Shot in various locations across the city and in the privacy of her home and bedroom, Toïdé documents the model’s subtle shifts in taste and mood as she gets older.

“As I photographed Gabrielle at irregular intervals, in small ellipses, I sensed that something I was having trouble grasping was constantly evolving… small variations in Gabrielle’s expressiveness, her attitude, her poses or the assertiveness of her gaze, as much as in the very concrete choices that govern the life of an adolescent: haircut, clothes, make-up or jewellery,” Toïdé tells Dazed in a conversation over email. “There was a kind of instability, a diffuse metamorphosis in her that, although unspectacular, I thought would be interesting to capture through photography, as if to understand the nature of what leaves and what stays with a person as they grow up. In this sense, my work with Gabrielle has no end, and I could go on photographing her little variations for a long time to come.”

“I’m attached to the intimate notion of time passing and how it can be wrapped up in objects, settings or faces” – Elise Toïdé

The photographer soon found there was something reciprocal about the project. Her own practice and research “coexist in parallel” with Gabrielle’s experimentation with “the signs she sends back to the world”. Toïdé explains: “This slow, delicate process puts us both on the same level, which is important for my approach. She also appreciates that I don’t see her as a ‘teenager’ but as a collaborator.”

While the portraits aren’t documentary photography, there is a semi-spontaneous aspect to their production. Toïdé tells us, “We meet in the neighbourhood – we live close to each other – and walk around, talking at random in the streets. When a moment seems right, we stop and shoot in silence or while talking. The process is very natural and soft. We also meet at her place, and we have the same process – we move from room to room looking for the right place or moment.”

While Toïdé doesn’t necessarily feel there are recurring themes in her work, something she remains fascinated by is time. “I’m attached to the intimate notion of time passing and how it can be wrapped up in objects, settings or faces. That’s also why I shoot in film.” As an ongoing body of work, Gabrielle is concerned with the ephemeral and the constant; markers in time which express themselves in the subtle alterations of Gabrielle’s appearance.

For the photographer, this particular passage of time is especially fascinating. “I’m touched by a specific time of youth, which I call the ‘last summer’, and which would be – if it exists – a last possible time of contemplation and indecision before the injunction of choice and affirmation are imposed on us.” This period, as adolescence gives way to adulthood is such a potent, important period in our lives – a time of accelerated change and clear horizons. “I think Gabrielle is really evocative of this,” says Toïdé. “Would you agree?”

Visit the gallery above for a closer look.

Follow the progress of Elise Toïdé’s projects, including Gabrielle, on Instagram here.