BAPTISTE LEONNE | Diva Through The Looking Glass

Baptiste Leonne explores the space between fantasy and reality, image and reflection, painting and photography. In his ongoing monumental series Diva, these boundaries dissolve through a distinctive creative process that moves between three interconnected elements: the mirror, the painted image, and the photograph.

Each work begins with a painting directly on a mirror, which Leonne subsequently photographs, transforming the reflective surface into a new image. While the painterly gestures evoke intimacy and immediacy, their translation into photography introduces a sense of distance. The glass surface that separates the viewer from the image creates yet another layer of reflection, subtly returning us to the mirror from which the work originated.

The mirror thus occupies a central yet paradoxical position in Leonne's practice. Both a medium and a recurring motif, it serves as the foundation of the image while ultimately disappearing within it. In this interplay of reflections, the mirror before the camera and the reflective glass of the finished photograph create a visual dialogue in which reality, representation, and perception become intertwined.

At the heart of Diva lies an exploration of femininity, identity, and the act of looking. Drawing inspiration from ancient goddesses, mythological figures, and classical sculpture, Leonne portrays women who embody both strength and vulnerability, timeless beauty and the poetry of imperfection. His interplay of light and shadow lends the images a nostalgic, almost cinematic quality, evoking a sense of belonging to another era while remaining suspended outside any specific time or place.

Presented together, the women of Diva form an imaginary collective, a constellation of figures united by a shared presence yet retaining their individual mystery. Neither portraits in the conventional sense nor purely fictional characters, they exist somewhere between the personal and the universal, the familiar and the imagined.

Ultimately, Diva invites us to reflect on the complex relationship between seeing and being seen. Through the recurring motif of the mirror, Leonne raises questions about self-image, identity, and the ways in which our perception of ourselves is shaped by the gaze of others.