Charles Negre's Shells: A Dialogue with Italo Calvino on Stillness and Beauty

In a feature for C41 Magazine, photographer Charles Negre's series 'Shells' is explored through the lens of Italo Calvino's writings and drawings, with an interview conducted by Marta Valdegrani. Negre, a French photographer born in 1988 and based in Paris, graduated from ÉCAL and works across editorial, commercial, and personal photography, focusing on studio and still-life genres. The article draws parallels between Calvino's practice of drawing shells to find balance and Negre's photographic approach, emphasizing the act of looking and the discovery of beauty in mundane objects. Negre discusses his belief that objects are more honest subjects than people, his view of photography as a tool to witness reality, and his fascination with shells as symbols of leftover capsules and layers of time. The piece also touches on the history of shells in art, from early Dutch paintings to 16th-century adventurers, and reflects on the concept of preciousness as subjective. Negre describes photography as a form of therapy and a way to create conversations between objects, highlighting the endless possibilities of studio work. The interview concludes with Negre's thoughts on shells as recipients of life and time, connecting to Calvino's idea of the shell as a singularity containing multiplicity.