Emmanuelle Boileau

Vidéos

Barbers. When you walk through Montreal and look around, it’s surprising how many barbers are working in the city. Many barbers are notoriginally from Canada. They are from Europe, and moved in the fifties duringthe European immigration wave. Most of them learned to cut hair when they werekids and have really good stories to share. It’s an old profession, but today,in 2015, there is a renewal of young people that want to become barbers. When Italked to my three subjects, Efstathios, Raffaella and Charles, I had thefeeling they were doing their dream job, because being a barber is not onlyabout cutting hair. It’s about meeting people and taking time to talk to themover a coffee. This is what I wanted to portray in the portrait, a story thatcame out directly from the subject. There is a real sense of pride we can feelfrom them, sitting in their barber’s chair, and this is unique. For thisportrait series, I wanted to use strong lighting in a busy environment. Ithought the contrast would be interesting. When you step into a barbershop,nothing is very organized, and that is what makes the environment sointeresting. I thought that taking a portrait of them posing in their barberchair would create an interesting composition.