LEA LUND & ERIK K: THE ART OF LOVING AND BEING SEEN

Since 2011, Lea Lund and Erik K have turned an entire life into one uninterrupted photograph

Since 2011, Swiss photographer Lea Lund and her husband Erik K, originally from the former Zaire, have turned their relationship into an ongoing artistic performance. From a first portrait grew a visual diary spanning years and continents, blending portraiture, architecture, and dandyism, where each image becomes both a declaration of love and an assertion of identity. If Erik K embodies a modern dandy, heir to an elusive elegance, Lea Lund captures these appearances within urban settings where architecture becomes the second protagonist. From Lausanne to Lubumbashi, from Arles to Brooklyn, their shared body of work has become an open-air intimate diary. Carried by a rare discipline and complicity, their practice moves beyond photography to become an existential quest, where each image captures, in motion, the raw essence of otherness.

IRK: Since you first met in 2011, you have built an ongoing photographic dialogue between portraiture, architecture, fashion, and personal style. How has your collaboration evolved over the years?

Lea Lund : Our collaboration continues and evolves naturally through new studio ideas, new journeys, and new garments. Erik’s approach to the images has also evolved, moving towards collage and other techniques. However, the foundation of our work remains unchanged: the same printer, the same camera, the same paper, the same formats, the same model, and the same photographer. Our work is designed to evolve over time. It functions like a visual diary. Even Erik’s beard turning grey over the years becomes part of the work.

IRK: Lea, Erik has remained the only subject of this body of work. What continues to fascinate you about photographing the same person after nearly two decades?

Lea Lund : I am not the one fascinated by Erik. We reflect each other. We are fascinated by one another. Our relationship is the creative foundation of our work. We want to make photographs together. We travel together, make decisions together, and do everything together.

That said, it is true that keeping that sense of desire alive after so many years is a challenge. It does not happen on its own. It requires a mental practice and discipline. Fortunately, it has never become a burden. It is essential to keep a sense of lightness, with, I hope, a touch of humour and self distance.

IRK: Lea, does photographing someone you love allow for greater honesty, or does intimacy sometimes make it harder to see clearly?

Lea Lund : After 15 years of living together 24/7, we are very comfortable with each other. We understand each other very quickly and share a strong complicity during our shoots.

IRK: Erik, your hats and clothing are not just accessories. They are creations that shape your identity in each image. How do you design these pieces, and how does your style influence the character you embody?

Erik K: My style comes naturally. It is instinctive and very spontaneous. My father only wore bespoke clothing, so I learned early. From a young age, I watched countless fittings and measurements with different tailors. This shaped the young boy I was. I started buying my own clothes at the age of 12.

IRK: Erik, Baudelaire described the dandy as a stranger who creates a new form of aristocracy. Does this interpretation align with your own understanding of dandyism?

Erik K: “Stranger” suits me very well. I have always felt like a stranger wherever I was, from a very young age. This began in my childhood in Zaire and continued through all my travels in Africa. People my age and my teachers gave me a nickname: Andaka. I later understood that it meant “the stranger.”

I prefer to speak about the solitude of someone who feels misunderstood, someone who is not naturally accepted. It is a feeling that suits me, because I have learned to live with these difficult moments.

Baudelaire’s idea of aristocracy excludes a large part of society, and that bothers me. I support a sense of communion between everyone, while respecting each individual’s differences. That is a real form of richness.

Architecture often appears as another protagonist in your photographs. How do you choose the buildings, cities, and public spaces in which Erik appears?

Lea Lund : Erik is not “placed” in the photographs. When we arrive at a location, we look together for the best angle. Erik is very agile and creative when it comes to posing. At the beginning, he sometimes risked his life by jumping over deep cliffs. I had to insist strongly that he stop doing that.

Architecture is indeed very important in our work, as my father, mother, brother, and uncle were all architects. Our choices are sometimes accidental, when we travel to a place for an exhibition, for example. We have also travelled 1,000 kilometres just to photograph a monument. There are no fixed rules.

One day, a woman who visited our exhibition at Photo London invited us to shoot in the Brutalist housing complex where she lived, the Barbican.

IRK: Erik, you now return to the photographs using printing techniques, collage, and other interventions, turning each image into a unique work. How has this process changed the balance of your collaboration, and why is craftsmanship important to the finished work?

Erik K: My intervention on the photographs is a continuation of our work, an evolution, a logical extension. It is also a form of mise en abyme: I exist within the photograph both as the model and as the artist.

It also transforms the photographs, which are reproducible works, into unique pieces. Some collectors are sensitive to this argument.

IRK: You have become familiar and emblematic figures of the Arles photography season. What does Arles represent in your personal and artistic journey?

Erik K: We have been coming to Arles for years. Over time, we fell in love with the city and its people, and eventually decided to live there half of the year. We also make many interesting encounters there, including collectors, curators, and gallerists.

IRK: Despite your strong connection to Arles, we noticed that you are not part of the OFF Arles programme. Was this a personal decision, a curatorial choice, or due to other reasons?

Erik K: I was born in Zaire under Mobutu’s dictatorship. I do not support what I see as the “dictatorship of wokism.”

IRK: As artists who have become part of Arles’ visual identity, do you think the city and its photography festivals give enough recognition to independent artists who have helped shape its cultural energy? 

Erik K : I think the city shows little gratitude towards independent photographers, who bring so much human warmth to this remarkable place. Politicians always think about the next election when they come to shake your hand. Once the election is over, you no longer exist.

IRK: You have photographed in Lausanne, Paris, Berlin, London, New York, Kinshasa, Lubumbashi, and many other cities. What does constant movement make possible that working in a single place cannot?

Erik K: Movement makes many things possible. Above all, the unexpected. That suits me very well.

IRK: Your photographs often make familiar places feel strangely distant. How do you transform everyday locations into something cinematic or unfamiliar?

Erik K: That is the magic of Lea Lund & Erik K!

Lea Lund: From the beginning, our photographs have had a timeless atmosphere. Perhaps we are both great nostalgics. It is probably part of our personal alchemy.

IRK: Erik, what did it mean for you to create images in Lubumbashi and Kinshasa, places connected to your origins?

Erik K: It touched me so deeply that I would rather leave my answer there. But it was incredibly meaningful. 

IRK: Do you photograph differently in the Democratic Republic of the Congo than in Switzerland or France? 

Erik K: Non. On ne change pas une équipe qui gagne. Comme dans tous nos voyages, nous nous adaptons à la réalité du pays. On revient toujours avec quelque chose dans la boîte. C’est le plus important.

Lea Lund: Oui, car là-bas c’est interdit de faire des photographies de tout bâtiment public. Même le long du fleuve, nous avons été virés par des militaires. En Europe, à part les églises et quelques sites industriels, on peut faire des photos partout. 

Do you sometimes feel that the public interprets your images through political ideas that differ from your own intentions?

Erik K: I like listening to visitors’ comments, remarks, and criticisms. It is always interesting. I even prefer negative feedback. I enjoy discomfort.

For example, at the 2018 Dakar Biennale, some Senegalese visitors nearly caused a scandal over a photograph in which Lea stands holding me on a leash with a chain, while I am crouched on the ground, naked.

Lea Lund: Everyone interprets our images as they wish. That is why we do not title our photographs, only indicating the date and location where they were taken. The same image can be provocative for one person, humorous for another, and meaningless for someone else.

We are living in a time where political correctness is turning into collective hysteria.

What are your current and upcoming exhibitions?  

We currently have two exhibitions in the city of Nyon, Switzerland, one of them at the Château de Nyon. This summer, as usual, we will be in Arles for the Rencontres de la Photographie, with a opening on 9 July.

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