Sophie Calle is one of France's leading conceptual artists, exploring the lives of others, as well as her own, in the photography and texts of her works. Her innovative style of transforming everyday life and spaces into art has garnered worldwide attention, culminating in her being awarded the Commandeur de la Ordre des Arts et des Lettres of France in 2012, and Britain’s Royal Photographic Society’s Honorary Fellowship in 2019.
Calle's journey as an artist began with her quest to capture the voices and images of others. In her early work, The Sleepers (1979), she invited strangers into her home to photograph them sleeping in her bed, then interviewing them. Though composed of photographs and text, this work was not originally intended to be ‘art’ but it emerged naturally from her engagement with the lives of others based on a “game” she devised.
One of her most famous works, Venetian Suite (1980), involved secretly following a man she had met at a party in Paris, to Venice. Assuming a variety of disguises she photographed him in black and white while making methodical notes about his movements. The viewer is drawn into the voyeuristic world that she has created.
She has continued to follow and delve into the lives of others. In The Blind (1986), Calle asked people who were born blind, who had never seen, what their image of beauty was.
Calle has also boldly exposed her own life in her works. Exquisite Pain (1999-2000), used photographs and words to record and express the pain of a broken heart. Take Care of Yourself (2007), created for the French Pavilion at the 2007 Venice Biennale, Calle asked 107 women chosen for their profession or skills, to interpret the break-up letter she had received. To analyze it, comment on it, answer for her.
Today, as many people publicly share their lives through social media, Calle acknowledges that her style was ahead of its time, she also notes that these days, would be more difficult to follow strangers as she did in 1979. Calle leaves the interpretation of her work to the viewer, maintaining that “it is the viewer’s job to describe his or her own art.” Ultimately, Calle creates poetic portraits through the unsaid, through the mundane and through the secret – her art turning the viewer into a fellow conspirator and collaborator.