Romain Berger: photographing and playing with the clichés of gay culture


By DREW Rowsome
01 Apr 2021

"'Camp' is a word that is not used in France," says French photographer Romain Berger. "I discovered it a few years ago and found that it totally corresponded to what I do. For me, camp is about playing with the clichés of gay culture to make fun of them. It's a way to control homophobic attacks, but it's also about expressing who you are. It's the border between man and woman, disguise, extravagance. Camp is also kitsch, excessiveness. It's a movement that disturbs closed-minded people and I love that." 

Berger's works are full of vibrant colours and populated by mysterious sexual beings. A quality that evokes cinematic masters like Almodovar, Jack Smith or John Waters. Berger explains that there is a reason for that, "Photography is not what I wanted to do at first. I studied film to become a director. Like many young people, I went to live in Paris, a bit like going to New York to become an actor. For two years I had many rejections, it was very difficult. I bought a camera/video to make my own short films and to be free. That's when I started to fall in love with photography. It was wonderful for me, I could make films, create stories with a still image and without having much money. That's how I became a photographer."

Berger says that, "Film has really taught me everything. I construct a picture in the same way as I write a screenplay. For me, the photo is a screenshot of a film. It's a break in the story. So there is a before and after. I explain this to my models. I want to make things that make sense, so before I think about photography I think about film. Every detail is important. I also acted for several years, so it helps me a lot in directing the models. They become actors, with a very specific story that I explain to them. It takes me about two weeks to make a photo. It takes as much energy to make a picture as to make five minutes of film, so my way of working is very similar to the cinema." 

What is dissimilar to film production is that Berger is a one-man show. He develops the vision and then builds the set, plans the lighting, organizes the props and wardrobe, and then casts the models. "The models are the icing on the cake," he says. "The model totally influences the image. It has happened, but it's not the model's fault, it's mine. It's a casting error. If you put the wrong model in a beautiful setting, the story won't be the same at all. The model helps to make the picture look good." He finds his models, "Mainly from social networks. I spend a lot of time on Instagram and on unknown profiles. When I have a crush, I contact the person to ask if they are interested in being in my model file. When I have a project that may match their physique, I contact them."

The model's physique is important. "I ask myself if a certain position or the fact that the character is naked is useful to the story or if it's gratuitous nudity. Sensual is when you imagine and explicit is when you see. For example, a hand hiding a sex is sensual, an erect sex is explicit." While Berger's photos flirt tantalizingly with the line between sensual and explicit, "I also have an OnlyFans. It's very different from my main artistic work. They are explicit and sexual photographs. I wanted to show sexual diversity without taboos and maybe publish a book later on. It's a far cry from staged and colourful photography."   

Photographers who work with the same flamboyant imagination are inspirations. "When I was a teenager I discovered David LaChapelle. His technique, his colours, his stories, everything is incredible. His artistry inspires me a lot and I think it shows in my work. I am regularly compared to Pierre et Gilles. It's very flattering, I like their work, even if they weren't really a source of inspiration because I discovered their work late. There are similarities in the themes and colours, it's true. Lately I've fallen in love with Robert Mapplethorpe, whom I knew very little about. In fact, I recently made a photograph in homage to Mapplethorpe. It's more film directors who have built my artistic aestheticism, like Wong Kar Wai, Gus Van Sant, Gregg Araki . . ."

They are also, not incidentally, queer artists and Berger identifies himself as a "French queer photographer." He explains being openly queer as a way of life, "My work is totally queer, I have no reason to hide it. I've always been out since I was a teenager, my whole family is gay friendly, it's part of me. From my point of view, the French gay culture doesn't exist much. Apart from Pierre et Gilles who are openly gay photographers, the other gay artists I know don't show it and very often make conventional art. France likes what is in the norm. For two or three years now, we have had queer and drag singers. It's more easily accepted for musical performances, it's a stage job. For photography, it's not easy. Many galleries have refused my work. They think it's too vulgar. France is closed."

As well as elevating iconic queer tropes and exploding stereotypes by making the marginalized heroic and beautiful, Berger adds a dash of politics with a sprinkling of sacrilege. "I am an atheist and I have a very bad image of the Christian religion. Here in France, Catholics have demonstrated a lot in the streets against gay rights and they still do. I don't understand and it makes me very angry. We know that there are many secrets in the churches. Using religion in my pictures is a way of criticizing but also of reconciling myself with it. Putting religion and homosexuality in the same picture is acceptance. I live opposite a church but I never go inside. And, aesthetically, religious symbols are always very beautiful . . ." 
  
Another frequent subject has a simpler reason for surfacing in Berger's work. "Obviously, sailors are a gay fantasy. I grew up with Jean Paul Gaultier commercials, I built my sexuality around handsome guys seen on TV. The sailor has always been a fantasy for me. I don't really know why. Maybe because I imagine them to be handsome and muscular like Gaultier. I live in Brittany. In France, in this region, the symbol is the sailor. Gay men fantasize about sailors maybe because they imagine crazy nights in the cabins when they are at sea . . ." Or maybe just because Berger makes them so sexy and enticing.

As well as exploring his artistic visions, Berger is not averse to commercial work. "I often have clients who come to my studio to have their photos taken and I also sell signed limited edition prints of my work. I earn my living this way. I would also love to work for brands like Jean Paul Gaultier, Prada, Louis Vuitton, Chanel, etc. To do artistic photography for a big brand is a dream." More immediately, "I have an online shop where you can buy an art print, signed with certificate of authenticity. For the books you will have to wait a little longer, it will happen soon. If people want to support me because they like my work or because they like my pretty face, you can make a donation on my website en.romainberger-photography.com."