Spotlight on student awards winner

At Applied Arts our mission is to showcase award winning talent, while doing some research on our past awards winners we came across 2021 Applied Arts Student Awards winner, Florence Babin-Beaudry, for her work Unexpected Parentheses.  We were curious to know where her talent had led her and so decided to reach out to her for a catch up. 

What is your biggest accomplishment since graduating from school besides awards?

My greatest accomplishment would certainly be being awarded a grant from the Canada Council for the Arts for my project Unexpected Parentheses. I hope to one day be able to live from my art, and this grant is a great proof of recognition and encouragement.

What have you been up to since then?

After graduating from school, I made the series Products of Conception that addresses the topic of spontaneous abortions. The series was well received and has been travelling since the beginning of 2022. It was published in various books and magazine and exhibited in photo festivals and galleries.

I am now shooting the second part of the series Unexpected Parentheses, and starting to conceptualize a new series that I hope to shoot in 2023.

Of course, I also take commercial contracts to make a living! I do a mix of portrait, corporate and wedding photography and art direction. Art direction has been my profession for twenty years and what I did before going back to Collège Marsan. My background as an art director is very helpful with my photography practice since I love staged imagery.

What was your biggest takeaway from going to Marsan Collège?

Going back to school was a way for me to fully make space in my life for photography. Some teachers were great mentors and really helped me develop my artistic approach. It was also good for me to learn digital photography since I only practiced film photography prior to Collège Marsan. I needed to adjust to our times (!) and I am grateful to be able to use all the softwares with so much ease today.

How do you stay inspired?

I visit museums and galleries as much as possible. I just came back from the Biennale in Venice and it was so inspiring! I was also in New York city and saw two great photography exhibitions : David LaChapelle and 12 women photographers from Magnum. Being in contact with such great artists keeps me creative and helps me unblock when I’m stuck in the process of a project. 

When I am in the concept phase of a project I like to read poetry. Words can be powerful and often a source of inspiration for future ambiances to create.

Thank you Florence for participating in our Q&A, we look forward to seeing more of your work in future!

* Photographs are from Florence's series Products of Conception.