Olivier G. Fatton

The photographer’s mad love for his model, as well as their passionate and symbiotic relationship, is palpable from the very first pages of Coco. Between elaborate staging and instantaneous shots, Coco multiplies the poses and transformations in the intimacy of the bedroom as against a backdrop of alpine landscapes. Although Coco appears feminine from the outset, her character becomes more nuanced as the volume unfolds, allowing the viewer to understand that this identity, performed and declined for the camera, echoes a real quest for identity, that of a woman who knew from the age of 13 that her boyish body did not correspond to her, and who would become the most famous transgender woman in Switzerland at the beginning of the 1990s. Olivier G. Fatton pays tender and poignant tribute to this tragic figure, who disappeared at the age of 29, in a very sober work. Almost restrained, its pure design with its immaculate cover seems to be in perfect harmony with this icon, whom those who knew her willingly called an angel. [Danaé Panchaud]