Stéphane Sednaoui

Stéphane Sednaoui is a French music video director, photographer, film producer and actor. He has worked in various forms of media, including music videos, photojournalism, portrait photography, fashion and pop culture.

Sednaoui's career began as a casting director for advertising campaigns and modeling for photographers and artists at age 18. At age 21, he began doing portraits for various publications, later photographing designers and models. Sednaoui has directed over 40 music videos, including "Give It Away" and "Scar Tissue" (Red Hot Chili Peppers), "Sly" (Massive Attack), "Mysterious Ways" (U2), "Big Time Sensuality" (Björk), "Fever" (Madonna), "German Bold Italic" (Towa Tei feat. Kylie Minogue), and "Queer" (Garbage). As a photojournalist he covered such events as the Romanian Revolution of 1989 and the 2001 September 11 attack of the World Trade Center. He has also been a regular contributor to Vogue Italia, Vogue China, Vanity Fair, The New York Times Magazine, Interview and Visionaire as a fashion and portrait photographer.

Over the years, Sednaoui has redefined his artistic approach to focus on his fine-art and cinematographic projects. New and existing work have been exhibited recently at the MoMA, New York (2015)– the National September 11 Memorial & Museum (2013–2015), New York – the Brooklyn Museum, New York (2013 – the (Barbican Center, London (2014) – Le Grand Palais, Paris (2015)– the National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne (2014) and in a solo exhibition at the Sam Art Projects Foundation, Paris (2013).

In 2005, his work with music videos was included in Palm Pictures's Directors Label, a series of DVDs compiling the work of notable music video directors.

Although Sednaoui never received formal training as a photographer or director, it was with the support of two major artists, William Klein and Jean-Paul Gaultier, that he shaped his artistic approach between the ages of 18 and 22. At 18 he started as a casting director for advertising campaigns before passing in front of the camera to become the face of Jean-Paul Gaultier's brand for two years (1982–1984). Through this collaboration he modeled for photographers Steven Meisel and Peter Lindbergh, and for artist Andy Warhol and William Klein. At 21 he was offered by his mentor photographer-director William Klein to be the casting director of the docufiction movie Mode in France (1985). At 22 he was a dancer in the French choreographer Régine Chopinot's creation: Le Défilé (1985), for which Jean-Paul Gaultier was collaborating by creating the costumes.

The Jean-Paul Gaultier, William Klein, and Regine Chopinot collaborations were documented by Sednaoui and shown years later: his pictures of Gaultier-Chopinot were exhibited in 2007 at the Musée des Arts Décoratifs of the Louvre, and his experience with William Klein was published in 2009 as a portfolio in the French magazine "Paradis".

Impregnated with the most experimental side of his masters’ work, William Klein, Robert Frank, Bill Brandt, Sednaoui's first photographic projects were in the form of abstract Photographic essays. ...

Source: Article "Stéphane Sednaoui" from Wikipedia in English, licensed under CC-BY-SA 3.0.