Sois Belle describes the human being, and especially the women who are protagonists of her photography, not as an object, but as an integral part of nature.

Annelie Vandendael was born in Belgium (1987) and grew up in the South of France. After college she returned to Belgium to study at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts (Kask) in Ghent for a Master’s in Photography. After finishing her studies, she was invited to ‘La Fabrica’, the Benetton Communication and Research Center in Treviso, Italy. As of a year ago she moved to Mallorca, where she says is the “ perfect place to live and raise a child, as well as a place with just the perfect light”.

Your greatest inspirations or influences?

• Traveling – Nature - nice colors - I love the 60’s, it’s been a great inspiration for me. The female body, its form inspires me and is actually the central subject in my work.              

• Films for example the movies of  Almodovar because of his sensibility and imagery. Jacques Tatti for his playfulness, the painter Edward Hopper for his magical compositions.

• Magritte for his mysterious work, the photographer Guy Bourdin for his colours, Slim Aaron for his great vibes and set. There are plenty more….

Tell us a bit about your creative process and things you are looking forward to this year?

I've been working on my personal project 'sois belle' for a few years now. It was actually my master degree project and I never stopped working on it. It feels like a little baby that I have to raise. This year it was difficult to travel for work, so I was unable to shoot as much but that said, it has given me enough time to think about how I want to develop my work in the future.

I'm looking forward for the summer light and to have my friends close to me in this absolutely perfect place so we can create new images. I mostly travel with friends, select a place, or a country that inspires us at that moment, and then we set out on a road trip with the high hopes of finding a magical spot.

How has this year changed your creativity or how you see the world changing moving forward?

Actually for me it hasn't been too bad that everything had to slow down a bit. The pandemic has forced us or made us “ rethink” on learning to live in another way, slower, more time at home to think, more time to create and more time to search in which direction we want to go with our lives and work. Hence we learn to enjoy small things which I think is very important. We take more time to create these specific things we like and feel and we are not rushing in this society circle where creativity is getting lost.

Who do you consider to be an icon of our time?

This is a really difficult question ... there are so many talented people on this planet creating so many beautiful things. Some great that come to mind;

• Wes Anderson, Tim Walker, Tim Burton, Pedro Almodovar, Tilda Swinton, Anne Teresa Dekeersmaeker

Do you think the art world needs to change, and if so how can it be improved?

I think sometimes we call something art too soon ... am realizing that very often I'm missing emotion, sensibility, that little thing that makes it art! Art should give you the possibility to travel into the fantasy world of the artist - for me that is really the essence of art.

Cover portrait by Athos Burez