David Luraschi’s sensual ode to human intimacy

In his hypnotic new book, Ensemble, photographer David Luraschi explores human intimacy and untamed nature

black and white photo of a pair of nude bodies kissing and sitting on a sandy beach
All images from Ensemble by David Luraschi © David Luraschi 2021 courtesy Loose Joints
(Image credit: David Luraschi/Loose Joints)

David Luraschi’s subjects never face the camera. But anonymity, if anything, only intensifies the intimacy. 

In his latest series, Ensemble – which is now a book published by Loose Joints – a pair of nude bodies fuse, overlap and interlock – we are voyeurs to this carefully choreographed dance, which is at once uncomfortable, sensual and electric.

black and white photograph nude pair of bodies hugging in water


(Image credit: David Luraschi/Loose Joints)

Beyond the carnal mood, there is a melancholy to be found which douses the pair in a charming bleakness. As they frolic in the sand, submerge their bodies in the water, and embrace to the point where individuality becomes almost irrelevant, we are reminded of the last 18 months, in which the pandemic drained the life from human intimacy. Ensemble, which translates as ‘together’, is an ode to the power of touch, and a eulogy for a life without it.

For the series, shot over two days, the French-American photographer took to the windswept Provençal wetlands of the Camargue: Europe’s largest river delta, to the west of Marseille and south of Arles. This is a region of vast salt flats, untamed nature and uninhabited wildness. It is expansive and desolate, furnished only with apocryphal myths, vagabond settlers, flamingoes and wild horses.

black and white photograph of a pair of nude bodies lying together on a sandy beach

(Image credit: David Luraschi/Loose Joints)

Aside from the introduction of unexpected props – a shabby chair and a parasol –the couple are alone with their environment, which eventually swallows them. 

Ensemble is the result of a collaboration and friendship – between Luraschi, fashion designer Simon Porte Jacquemus, who commissioned the work, and dancers Claire Tran and Paul Girard. It was initially conceived as a photo story for Jacquemus’ Autumn/Winter 2017 collection, titled L’amour d’un Gitan, but has been revisited as a creation in its own right by Sarah Piegay Espenon and Lewis Chaplin of Loose Joints. The limited-edition book marks the opening of Loose Joints’ bookshop in Marseille, also titled Ensemble.

The pace of this series is glacial, the landscape hypnotic, the couple at one with each other, and their environment. Their anonymity keeps us guessing, but their intimacy keeps them human.

black and white photograph showing a pair of nude bodies sitting together on a chair holding a parasol

(Image credit: David Luraschi/Loose Joints)

black and white photograph showing a nude man sitting on a chair in water

(Image credit: David Luraschi/Loose Joints)

black and white photography of a chair in water

(Image credit: David Luraschi/Loose Joints)

black and white photograph of two nude bodies sitting under a parasol on the beach

(Image credit: David Luraschi/Loose Joints)

black and white photograph of a wooden chair floating in water

(Image credit: David Luraschi/Loose Joints)

black and white photograph of a man and women shadows on a parasol

(Image credit: David Luraschi/Loose Joints)

INFORMATION

Ensemble, £25. loosejoints.biz

Harriet Lloyd-Smith was the Arts Editor of Wallpaper*, responsible for the art pages across digital and print, including profiles, exhibition reviews, and contemporary art collaborations. She started at Wallpaper* in 2017 and has written for leading contemporary art publications, auction houses and arts charities, and lectured on review writing and art journalism. When she’s not writing about art, she’s making her own.

With contributions from