MARC : You grew up in France , but your family lived all over the place , right ?
KARINE : Yes . My dad grew up in Africa , changing countries every two , three years . He was always kind of unstable , which is what led my mom to leave him . After they separated , he moved to the Caribbean , to Martinique , Guadeloupe and Saint Maarten . Then he came back to Europe — to Germany . Eventually he returned to France , then went back to Africa . Now he ' s back in France .
MARC : That ' s quite the world tour . Did that influence you and your work ?
KARINE : Yes , totally . When we were children , we were often on the move . We took many trips with my parents . When I was six , they sent us to the Caribbean on our own to stay with our grandparents . Even when I was very young , I was already traveling on my own .
MARC : During that nomadic life , did photography help you find your bearings and make sense of your ever-changing surroundings ?
KARINE : Yes . Photography is still a way to situate myself somehow and also to relate to the place where I am and the people around me . At the same time , it can create a barrier too . When you take pictures , you don ' t necessarily enjoy the full experience . The experience is mediated by the camera . But for me , it ' s more of a connector in a way . That ' s why I loved working with the Rolleiflex camera when I started with it . With a Rolleiflex , you don ' t really put the camera in front of your face . You look down . It was an amazing discovery : I could still relate and interact with the subject . I didn ' t have to hide my face and my gaze — my eyes behind a box . With the Rolleiflex , I can almost be even more present , focus my energy . Especially with the pools , it was a way to be even more present . I spent hours observing . It was a slow process .
MARC : So why pools ?
KARINE : That was kind of accidental . In 2002 , I had just gotten my first Rolleiflex . I went to Barcelona on vacation , and I ' ve always been into water . I need to be near water . So I was looking for a pool in Barcelona , and there is an outdoor pool in La Barceloneta near the beach . I went and started to observe the activity around the pool through my camera . I was laying down and was kind of vaguely looking and observing and thought , “ this is an interesting angle to see all this repetition of gestures around the same set .” It reminded me of playing theatre when I was young .
MARC : Would you say that for you , pools are reminiscent of stages ?
KARINE : Yes , it ' s like a stage . I ' m also very fond of contemporary dance . I saw similarities to that . Then I started to shoot people coming in and out of the frame . I didn ’ t really move the camera . I just let people come in and out , and I was waiting for interesting expressions or body juxtapositions with the urban landscape around it . The body became almost like a sculpture and a part of the landscape .
MARC : How many photos were in that first set ?
KARINE : It was only two rolls of twelve images . I don ' t shoot a lot . I prefer to wait .
MARC : Also , that was before digital cameras .
KARINE : Yes , I love using analog photography . Especially when I travel a lot , I don ' t have access to a lab immediately . So when I bring the film to be developed , it ' s always a surprise . Sometimes I forget what I photographed , and that ' s what happened with those first pictures . And then , when I had them developed , there was also an accident . The film was slides but they developed it as negatives . They transposed the slides into negatives , and in that process , it completely shifted the angles and pushed the contrast even more . Many of these images were already photographed in middle of the day . I did
6