Enfnts Terribles

Can you tell us a bit about your journey? What led you to photography?

In the first place, I used photography as a tool to study architecture. Photography was a way of capturing light, space, and texture. I could understand a place better from the way it’s captured. Step by step it evolved from taking pictures of something that exists to creating what I take pictures of. I started making sculptures with concrete, wood, and different fabrics and take these sculptures, put them under the light, and take pictures of them. Later I started to use models and moved slowly toward fashion. Somewhere along my journey, I stopped to do architecture and only did photography. It went from a tool to study, to a tool to express.

Did you always have a relationship with fashion, or did it grow more naturally through your work?

It’s funny because I forgot about this, but I started to design fashion before I did photography. I remember, when I was studying architecture, I read the book Atmospheres by Swiss architect Peter Zumthor. In the book, he explains how he makes buildings based on atmosphere, and he has nine points on how he constructs space. When I was in university, sometimes I wouldn’t listen to the professor but draw T-shirts. I remember I drew this T-shirt where you could place patches in different shapes and colors and design something new every morning. Actually, I started to like fashion, and later, I started to do photography.

You have done some big things at a very young age. How does your age influence your work and who you work with?

It’s very challenging because there are a lot of situations where it’s almost like a handicap. Because I’m so young, people don’t give me the credibility of experience. It’s almost like talent is not enough, experience has to be there. Especially when you work in a commercial context like photography and fashion. I think in art, people don’t think age is a factor. You can be 18 and a genius, and people would still care about you. But in fashion, there’s also a bit of jealousy. In French, we say, “à double trenchant.” It means a double edge. My work can be interesting and good, almost a hype, but at the same time, people will not give me the credibility that I deserve based on my talent because I’m so young.

What defines a signature Hugo Comte image, according to Hugo Comte?

The thing is, if I think about my work, I don’t think about what I just did, but I think about all the things I want to do. It’s a whole lifetime full of ideas that are completely different. Not only because of the style but also because of the medium. I have a movie coming out in a few weeks, an amazing sculpture project, CGI digitally-generated art … : there are a lot of designs and things. It’s hard to answer because it means I would have to just look at what people know. I could answer this question when I would be 70 years old, about to die, and look at everything I did.

For me, it’s more about a global vision, and how I navigate between different mediums and keep expressing ideas without the same protocol. I like the process. I never look at what I did and am satisfied. It takes time to enjoy what I made. The process is really what defines me.

You just talked about a movie coming out. Can you tell us more about it?

Yes, it’s a short movie, about twenty minutes, and it’s coming out in a few weeks. A friend of mine said that it’s an attempt to depict the female experience through the contemplation of their mind, their inner world, and the contemplation of women together. It’s an all-girls casting, and it goes back and forth from reality to them being together. It’s very raw and very decontextualized.

‘Debunk’ by Hugo Comte at Black Gallery is still open until Sunday the 14th of May at Kloosterstraat 152 in Antwerp. 

Header and portraits Hugo Comte by Oriane Verstraeten. Co-written by Eveline Slavov Slavov.