STEPHEN FRAILEY: There is a large conversation these days about a re-definition of beauty, one that is more overtly inclusive.  But in the case of your work, beauty does not feel disruptive, but a very lithe contact with something primal and ancient, both sexual and of the natural world.  Is this a good place to start a dialogue about your work?

ALEXANDRA VON FUERST:  I believe this being a great place to start from, I appreciate the choice of words from primal to sexual, to natural, I think it is perfectly fitting. 

The concept of origin came up quite a lot in my research lately and brought me to understand that my interest lies in the essence of beauty itself.  To be intended as a return and remembrance, it is about attraction, elegance, sublimity, seductiveness and at the same time imperfection, irregularity and rejection. Primal means cyclical, nothing exists by itself and nothing is set aside.

SF: You mention research.  I think that for many artists that is an intuitive process—is your investigation methodical?  Tell us more...

AVF: It always starts in an intuitive form yet there is no progress without grounding, and this in my opinion applies to the necessity of a stable knowledge behind each work.

My research is mostly spread across different areas, from philosophy, to literature, to visual arts, to science, to spirituality. As a curious soul I love investigating each aspect of life and therefore read and dig into all topics that I can. Above all I believe in first hand experience so “action" always comes alongside any theoretical studies. As a student I was very interested in science and psychology and I believe this shows a lot especially in the documentation I like doing: it is a synthetic filtering of information to reach my own truth.

SF:  Curiosity is crucial.  I’ve always thought that one of the advantages and pleasures of a creative life—writing, composing, depicting—is that one’s thought process can take you to unexpected information.  What you describe seems very cerebral,  yet you are able to create something, again, very beautiful.  It is a very notable translation.

AVF: Thank you for your kind words on the work, I feel very lucky being an artist in this generation, it is indeed surprising and healing, a constant discovery. I would just probably not entirely agree with the term cerebral, it is rather a balance between intuitive sensing and empirical knowledge coming together.

SF: A balance between heart and mind.   Let’s return to the notion of primal and sexual, and discuss more in relation to the female body, the site of so much of your work.

AVF: Primal is both ancient and natural, an essence of the body which directly connects to sexuality. In fact I see sexuality as an inherent part of the body itself, it is the way we identify and relate to ourselves and others.

Accepting sexuality means also accepting your senses, your form, your desires and nature, it means finding comfort in relation to your identity and in all relationships to the external world. I wonder if there was a more specific question on your mind in this regard?

SF: Not so much, but I did want to specify, in our conversation, that it is the female body that pervades your work. In the meantime, your fashion work on commission is noteworthy in its originality, and  this entails infusing the work with your sensibility—all that we are discussing.  Has this been a challenge?

AVF:  Yes you are right, the body has always been female for me so far. Since the photographs I take are a mirror of my own self in many ways, working with and on women has been the most natural and only choice to me. It appeals to me in beauty, richness, diversity, strength, creative power and allows me to give back to the women I work with a piece of themselves to be proud of. (Hopefully)

Working with fashion was a decision I made mostly pushing myself out of my comfort zone. I was fascinated by the idea that I could blend the richness of fashion with an exploration of the feminine and was very lucky to have many opportunities in which I was given the freedom to express myself. I did never feel myself a fashion photographer however and am actually currently going back to my original dream to work as an artist. Challenges are important to keep progressing, for me it has always been about confronting my fears first, literally diving right into it, so it was for fashion too in a way. I wished to show myself I could do it and it worked. 

SF: Being aware of one’s ‘comfort zone’ as an artist is critical for moving forward, despite the discomfort. And further, this is a really compelling idea—that fashion photography would provide a vehicle for your internal investigation and risk.  So often fashion photography is dismissed as being capable of depth and complexity.   

AVF: Yes I agree with you and believe in the idea that it does not matter what you do, yet it is important how you do it.

SF: Were there ways that working within a context of fashion enlarged your thinking?  Affected the work?

AVF: I owe most of my learning to the context of fashion: from the creative art direction of a shooting to final editing and post production, all is linked to the same source.

While working for fashion magazines and brands I learned how to compromise my initially egocentric vision into encompassing a collaborative creation, into considering many points of view and talents of the people around me. Fashion photography does not exist without a team work, with diligence, concentration, organisation and flexibility. It requires to work fast and efficiently to bring results in short time. It taught me how to respectfully act on set while listening and leading other professionals, how to become an independent and self confident version of myself while facing the challenge of an industry I felt very uncomfortable in. I owe my career to the fashion industry so far and recognise that my wish to move into new directions comes mainly from having found my place in it after all.

The work was affected by fashion mainly as I had to keep in mind a commissioned visual which has definite rules it relies on, it was a compromised freedom but also an important experience.

SF: That is an eloquent description of the advantages of commissioned work, and a keen endorsement of the creative potential of fashion.  Well said!  Shall we finish with your ongoing work?  The series of “A Study of fFertility” is particularly compelling and relevant, I think, to your consistent concerns....

AVF: Thank you, the series “A Study of Fertility” does indeed mean a lot to me. I had been nurturing the idea of working on female fertility and menstruation for a few years and the right occasion to start shooting the project finally appeared beginning of September last year.

The taboo in relation to menstruation and the common misconceptions around it (both from a male and female perspective) have been creating a deep impact on global health around the world. I myself experienced a deep disconnection to my body in the past years and felt a natural urge to share my point of view on the topic.

Women are suffering of discomfort and facing provocation towards one of the most natural and vital signs of life itself and therefore changing their way of living conforming to a patriarchal form of society.

The series is conceived as a part of a wider project entitled “Human Nature in Life and Rebirth”, which is about recreating understanding in society, to promote health on a global level. Based on principles of eco-feminism, inspired by indigenous animistic beliefs and diverse researches on sustainable development, the project wishes to promote harmony, progress and socio-economical wellbeing through information and connection between systems and environments.

Reconnecting to your initial thoughts, it is about re-defining knowledge, beauty and identity, bringing sacredness into each aspect of life, including sexuality, nudity, diversity and irregularity.