Emmanuele Couloumy
Creative, Miami
Disposable Magazine x Urban Outfitters
Emmanuele Couloumy is an overall creative currently living in Miami. He was born in Perigeux, France and spent years of his youth between France, Qatar, and Venezuela. He uses photography as a way to wander, uncover, and appreciate the strangeness around him. His photographic work expresses melancholia as well as his gradual change of perception for Miami’s local scenery.
Where were you born, where did you grow up, where do you live and what is coming next?
Born in Perigueux, France, raised in France and Qatar for a few years. However, I spent most of my childhood in Venezuela after that. Currently living in Miami.
We can recognize a lot of Miami in your pictures, how did the city influence you?
I think it had a lot to do with the realization of this sort of mundane, sublime ugly I find in some of the least popular locations of the city that I couldn’t see before when I first moved here. It helped me look at the things that were always overlooked.
Who is the girl on your picture?
That’s Marlene, la plus belle.
Plants, cars, they seem to come back quite a lot in your photos, is it a passion or an obsession?
I do enjoy plants and 70-80s cars.
This one is easy, but… are you really kind of sad? A melancholic feel surely comes out of your roll.
maybe not that kind of sad, but melancholy is a feeling I try to portray on some of my work.
What is photography to you?
an excuse to wander around, look at things in a meticulous way that isn’t normally socially acceptable. A way to uncover and elevate the overlooked strangeness that surrounds us.
Your idea of happiness?
my cats measuring 4 times their size.
Your idea of misery?
when you’re a novelist and your biggest fan kidnaps you and forces you to shape your novel to suit her twisted ideas.
If not yourself, who would you be?
a panda
Your heroes?
my dad
What is your present state of mind?
preparing and planning for my upcoming trip to my hometown in France, which will conclude a big part of a project I’ve been working on for a few years.
Bedside table books?
nothing but a journal at the moment.
What do you do if you can’t sleep at night?
go on my phone
Tea or coffee?
tea
What is the strangest thing you believed as a child?
not exactly believed, but I would have this idea that the car headlights passing through the window at night were walking skeletons in top hats bearing a light inside their ribcage.
A color?
pantone 117c
A city?
Nara, Japan
What are your plans for this weekend?
might go an adventure to the outskirts of Homestead, Florida, might watch The Office all day. Who knows.
A song?
days of candy by beach house
Right or left handed?
right
What is the best dish you can cook?
I’ve heard good things about my ramen and other noodle soups.
What is your middle name?
I don’t have one.
What inspires you?
looking at other artists’ work
What do you do for money?
Make pictures and damn good espresso.
What do you do for pleasure?
Make more pictures.