Hélène Binet

Over a period of forty years, Hé lè ne Binet has photographed both contemporary and historical architecture – this is the complete monograph of her work, with two extensive critical essays. Marco Iuliano details Hé lè ne Binet’ s background, from her childhood in the Italian fishing village of Sperlonga and in Rome, through her early ‘ discovery’ of architectural photographer Lucien Hervé , to other significant influences, like the Architectural Association in London where she met Zaha Hadid. The essay highlights in detail Binet’ s approach to photography, her process and archive. Martino Stierli sets Binet’ s work within the conceptual framework of architectural photography, discussing whether an architectural photograph is an inventory of a building or space, a translation into a two-dimensional image or, rather, an image in its own right; an artifact that loosely relates to the original object or phenomenon. The two essays are followed by a catalogue of Binet's work, which is framed within a series of her recurring themes emerged through dialogues between the authors and the photographer.