“I think it's
the desire to escape reality,”...
French photographer Juliette Jourdain builds fantastical worlds from her own hands, transforming both the beautiful and the ugly into bold works of art that celebrate the power of imperfection.
The first time you encounter Juliette Jourdain’s work, it feels like stepping into a dream — surreal, bold, and wildly imaginative. Her photographs blur the line between reality and fantasy, conjuring up characters that seem pulled from another realm. Costumes, handmade props, and vivid, dreamlike tones transform her portraits into little universes of their own.
For Juliette, visual storytelling began as a form of escape. “I think it's the desire to escape reality,” she says. “To create my own little world where anything is possible and you can be whoever you want. It's like a little vacation for the mind.” That sense of playful rebellion , the urge to invent, to dream has guided her from the beginning. When asked if there was a moment she knew photography was her language, Juliette doesn’t hesitate: “Photography allows me to bring together everything I love: drawing, creating with my hands, painting, fashion... So for me it quickly became obvious.”
Her portraits often carry the intimacy of self-reflection, even when cloaked in elaborate costumes. There’s a rawness beneath the fantasy, an emotional honesty woven into the characters she creates. “It's true that my photos reflect a certain state of mind at a given moment,” she explains. “It's also very liberating to be able to express and let out your emotions through art. It's a healthy and beautiful way to do good for yourself. To create something beautiful from something ugly. Fortunately, sometimes I also create from beautiful things like love, passion, tenderness, and serenity.”
Inspiration, for Juliette, is everywhere. “To be honest, everything is a source of inspiration, everything! If you can open your eyes to what's around you! My children are also a great source of inspiration. I also like to try to illustrate a piece of music I like with an image, for example. I ask myself: ‘Hey, if an image could represent this music, what would it be like?’” By staying open to people, music, and the smallest moments, she allows her work to constantly shift and grow.
“Go for it! Go for it! Don't let that spark go out! And don't listen to those who tell you that you'll never succeed.”
Her creative rhythm is also fluid, shifting between bursts of energy and long periods of stillness. “I have periods where I don't create anything for a long time. Others where I create a lot. I don't control that and I've learned over time that if the desire isn't there, if the good idea isn't there and if I force myself (because you know, you always have to create more and more) then it ALWAYS leads to a bad result.” Instead of forcing output, she embraces experimentation. “Everything I do is just experimenting!”
That spirit of play comes through in her attitude toward perfection. Many people hesitate to begin because they fear their work won’t measure up, but Juliette believes it’s precisely the imperfection that makes art worth making. “Well, you're not a computer, you're not a robot, so what you do will never be perfect, and that's what's beautiful. What's important is to be proud of what you do and what you show. That, for me, is perfect work. The kind you're proud of.”
She also invites her audience into the messy middle of her practice, sharing behind-the-scenes moments and snippets of her handmade props in motion. “This is important because these moments are an integral part of the process. How everything unfolds behind the scenes is directly linked to the quality of the final result. I also like to see the props I make come to life through video, not just frozen in a photo.”
One of the most profound shifts in her work has come with motherhood. “Motherhood has completely changed my art and my life in general,” she says. “I have two children who are still very young, and that requires a lot of sacrifice. But they've also become a huge source of inspiration. I watch them live, and they provoke new emotions in me. New desires. And so it's only natural for me to include them in my photos (and they're delighted).” Her children, she says, remind her daily of the importance of curiosity, wonder, and play — values she hopes to pass on. “Never stop creating, never stop dreaming. Never stop having fun.”
And if she could leave one message to anyone with a spark of creativity inside them, it would be this: “Go for it! Go for it! Don't let that spark go out! And don't listen to those who tell you that you'll never succeed.”
In a world that often urges us to be realistic, Juliette’s work insists on the opposite: to escape, to play, to dream boldly. And in doing so, she reminds us that imagination is not a retreat from reality but a way to reshape it.
Explore more of Juliettes work on instagram @juliettejrdn