source: visualseennet

These photographs, represent three from a series titled, “The Apartment”–an 18-month long exploration of the alternative ways a human being can physically be within space. Indeed, she presents a personal connection between a person and the space in which she lives. In my conversation with Belle she said, “I was thinking about photo-documentation of performance art. The stills don’t do justice to the actual performance.” She explained that as she looked at different ways to occupy space in her apartment, “Physical objects themselves took on forms and odd ways. I don’t need to be in every picture.” Yet, the stills freeze that moment of action in time, pulling it out of its context, yet cementing it within it. Perhaps the most compelling image to confront me, was one in which Belle is seen from the back, twisted in some near-impossible contortion atop a table within a starkly empty room.
.Again her face is hidden from view of the camera, making her a more universal, anonymous figure, rather than a specific person. This image came after “The Apartment” series, and was completed in 2009. There are no domestic cues to play off—just a table and herself. As Belle stated, “It’s more about the body and formal aspects than persona.” Edward Robinson and Sarah Bay Williams aptly observed Nicole Belle, “By exposing herself as a lone figure accomplishing feats of household playfulness, she lets us know that we are not alone.
As I continued around the corner in the Williams Tower lobby, I came upon some black and white photographs that caught my attention. First, a somewhat mundane scene of an urban back alley, chairs neatly stacked and aligned, neatly arranged containers and some potted plants. But, something is a bit out of place. Two columns of balloons lie toppled over on the ground, their shadows merging with the geometric container neatly affixed to the wall.
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source: 2010biennialfotofestorg

Home is the realm of Nicole Belle’s photographic explorations, where the normative trappings of domestic tranquility are upended by the figurative convolutions of the photographer herself. In her series Apartment (2008), Belle enacts before the camera contortions of her body and makes unconventional use of home objects, turning her domain into the palette of her psyche. What at first appears to be absurd becomes a reflection of Belle’s desire to evoke a sense of connection between a person and the space in which she lives. She draws inspiration from the staged happenings of the Viennese Actionism of the 1960s, which employed the human body in disturbing and seemingly destructive ways–nudity, blood, violence- -to rebel against conservatism and traditional beauty. No less vigorous for its greater measure, Belle’s photographs emphasize an exploration of the human psyche with insight to be gained through amusement and pleasure. By exposing herself as a lone figure, accomplishing feats of household playfulness, she lets us know that we are not alone.

Nicole Belle was born in 1977 in Dayton, Ohio. She received her B.A. in French literature from New York University, a B.F.A. in fine art photography from the Rochester Institute of Technology, and her M.F.A. in visual art at the University of California, Riverside. In New York she studied at the School for Visual Arts and worked in the Associated Press photography department. Her work has been shown in the Los Angeles area at Sandroni.Rey, High Energy Constructs, Torrance Art Museum, the New Wight Gallery at University California, Los Angeles, the Riverside Art Museum; also in California the Brand Gallery, Glendale; the Millard Sheets Gallery, Pomona; Sweeney Art Gallery, Riverside and the California State University, Long Beach Galleries, as well as in various group shows in Rochester, New York, and Minneapolis, Minnesota. Belle currently lives and works in Los Angeles.