In early 2018 she bought an Impossible Project I-1, a Polaroid camera that makes use of Bluetooth technology and can be hooked to your phone.
“Your phone then becomes the remote for the camera with the I-1 app,” she explains, “but the whole process of shooting remains analogue.
“The film still needs time for development — around 15 minutes for colour film and ten for black and white. With the app you can set aperture, shutter speed, self-timer and more.
“But unfortunately you still can’t see what you are doing until you take the first shot. Therefore there’s a lot of trial and error trying to work out the best lighting, pose, angle etc.
“The I-1 is still with me and is my favourite camera, my baby. It is hated by the Polaroid community for its poor battery life and quirky character. But I learned to deal with its quirkiness and it has provided me with my best shots.”
In time Ifa changed her OneStep2 for a new model called the OneStep+, the follow-up camera from the I-1, also equipped with Bluetooth.
“The I-1 and OneStep+ are my only cameras; both are new Polaroid cameras of the I-type that hook up to your phone. I have no vintage or restored cameras.”
It takes a special kind of crazy…
“Perhaps,” she ponders, “it takes a special kind of crazy to choose an unstable medium when stable digital options are available. But I have a habit of making things difficult for myself.
“As a creative person I do not believe in comfort. If you are not willing to submit yourself to discomfort and frustrations, you will never grow or create interesting works and should stay far away from Polaroid!”
I tell her I have strong feeling she was smiling as she wrote those words. “Is it that obvious?” she responds mischievously.
While Ifa’s USP is that she shoots only on Polaroid and creates self-portraits exclusively, it’s clear from her work that, although she has only one model — herself — that model nevertheless becomes different characters for different shoots.
Asked about her character inspirations, she says: “I have always been drawn to women with an edge. The ones that ooze sexual power. The ones that are unapologetically themselves in all their eccentricity.”
Among female role models she cites Bettie Page and “blonde bombshells like Jayne Mansfield”. She is also inspired by 1950s fetish visionaries such as Charles Guyette, John Willie, Eric Stanton and Gene Bilbrew, and by greats of more recent times including Helmut Newton and Ellen Von Unwerth.
“But I don’t only admire old school photographers,” Ifa insists. “There are many, many influences, so these are just the first that come to mind.
“I love Gary Breckheimer’s work. I was lucky enough to shoot with him twice, once in Amsterdam and the other time in New York. His style is unmistakable ‘Breckheimer’ with B&W nudes shot in cities.
“Others include Bob Carlos Clarke, Eric Kroll, Doris Kloster, The London Vagabond and Steve Diet Goedde.”
Ifa Brand: a modern Molinier?
And in case you were wondering: yes, she also admires that legendary 1950s crossdressing Parisian self-portrait artist Pierre Molinier.
I think I might even go as far as to say I see more of Molinier in her work — especially her B&W images — than any of the other artists she quotes as inspirations. And I do mean this as a compliment.
It is not just people past and present that inspire Ifa Brand’s work. Places are a vital aspect too, she says, contributing substantially to the end result.
“A lot of time and effort goes into searching the right locations,” she reveals. “They need to have something quirky, so my preferences are outdated hotels and old motels.
Since the early 2000s, says Ifa, her taste in locations has been very much influenced by the work of Chas Ray Krider — specifically the images he shot of Dita Von Teese for his Motel Fetish series.
“For me those images of Dita are among the best modern day fetish photos I have ever seen, because everything is perfect: the light, location, gorgeous outfits, Dita.
“When I envisioned my work or how it should be, those sleazy motel vibes immediately came to mind.
“It takes a long time for me to find the right location because I cannot use modern and clean environments. They need to have a certain vintage vibe, American motel, David Lynch weirdness.
“I mainly shoot in Belgium, The Netherlands and France. Due to Covid many locations are struggling and are disappearing or even worse, are changing their interiors into a paradise of white walls and mediocrity.
“I would love to shoot in Tokyo as I know they have many crazy love hotels that would be perfect for my work.”
A personal quest for empowerment
In her longform bio, Ifa Brand describes her work as “a personal quest for empowerment through the art of self-portraiture”.
In her personal definition of eroticism, she says, the viewer is granted a small window in time, vaguely familiar yet distant like an old movie still.
“It combines elements of fetishism with vintage Hollywood glamour and ’50s pin-ups. It references fetish classics but does not copy them, rather providing a modern perspective.
“In scenes of mirrored ceilings, floral wallpapers and satin sheets, I stand alone in a thousand poses being the blonde busty star in my own silent film: the viewer-voyeur in atmospheric tales engraved in a Polaroid world.”
In terms of specific fetish sensibilities, she says that she loves to combine different styles and textures — not just in her work but also in her daily life.
“I always dress in black clothing — a reminder of my goth days as I feel most comfortable in black. I love combining tight black leather leggings with soft delicate textures such as silk. Latex paired with black lace lingerie.
“I love sleek streamlined patterns and to mix them with super feminine classic clothing pieces like skirts or dresses.
“When I go out, even when it’s just for a five-minute grocery shopping trip, I always do a minimum of make-up. Definitely red lips (which has been difficult with all the mask-wearing recently).
“And I don’t own jeans. Not even for gardening purposes. Let alone for shoots. I like strong fetish details. A good pair of heels is never to be underestimated!
“I like to think I use my (fetish) influences to create my own world. All my influences gather in my head and out comes this Polaroid madness!”.
And now that “madness” has resulted in her first book, thanks to Circa Press, the London publisher already responsible for fetish photo-books from Steve Diet Goedde and Alejandra Guerrero and with more in the pipeline.
“I never in a million years thought I would already have a photo-book published after only four years of doing photography,” Ifa confesses.
How the Boudoir project came about
How did her collaboration with Circa come about? It all began, she says, after she and Circa boss David Jenkins started following each other on Instagram.
“We started talking at the end of 2020 about doing a book together, as David loves Polaroids. We had a few video calls and decided to take on this project together and make it real.
“The process was very organic and from the start our collaboration has been a dream, as we were on the same page in terms of how the book should look and what type of work it should contain, basically from the start.
“I shared a selection of my best works with David and the book’s designer Jean-Michel Dentand. We also got Nora Kobrenik from Tartarus Magazine to provide a wonderful introduction for the book.”
From there the design of Boudoir took shape.
“We decided to add some work shot very recently to bring the book right up-to-date. So it includes some of the new round-framed Polaroids I shot this April, as well as my best work from the previous three years.”
What does Ifa hope people will take away from her photo-book debut?
“I hope Boudoir finds itself in the hands of people who love photography, erotic art and the fusion between glamour and fetish. People who see that eroticism isn’t about perfection, but rather imperfection.”
“I would never call my own work art,” she declares. “That is for others to decide. In my almost four years of being a photographer I have heard varying comments about it, from ‘amazing’ to ‘cheap crap’.
“The truth is probably both. But if there is one thing people should remember about my work: the primary driving force has always been pure passion.
“I hope that one day in the future, someone will find my book and look at it the way I look at work by John Willie, and realise that kink has always existed although often in relative obscurity, hidden by taboos.
“I hope Boudoir inspires. I hope it gives others the courage to live on their own terms, especially girls and women.”
ORDER IFA BRAND’S BOUDOIR, VISIT HER PARIS EXHIBITION AND SEE HER AT OTHER UPCOMING EVENTS
Boudoir by Ifa Brand, with an introduction by Nora Kobrenik and book design by Jean-Michel Dentand, is published by Circa Press on December 1, 2021
Technical spec:
Hardcover
25 × 20cm (10 × 8in)
128pp, 70 colour illustrations
£50 | $75
ISBN 978-1-911422-31-0
circa.press
Buy If’s Boudoir book direct from
these online outlets:
Amazon (UK)
Amazon (US)
Bol.com (BE/NL)
Standaard Boekhandel (BE)
Ifa has four images in this year’s InstantArt Paris exhibition, which features the work of 17 artists creating in the instant photography medium
Venue: Iconoclastes Galerie,
20 rue Danielle Casanova, 75002 Paris
Times: Saturday-Sunday November 13-14, 12:00–19:00
Admission: free subject to masking and covid pass
Meet Ifa at InstantArt opening night:
Friday November 12 from 18:00
She promises there will be exclusive advance copies of Boudoir to buy at the gallery.
instagram.com/instantart
facebook.com/instantart
Meet Ifa at upconing events pencilled in for the UK and Belgium:
We hear that Circa is hoping to host a big London launch party next year for several new books including Boudoir.
Ifa says that if it happens, she will “definitely be there even if it takes 12 Covid safe tickets and swipes up my nose”. She also plans her
own mini-event in Belgium “to celebrate the book and attach an expo in 2022”.
See more from Ifa Brand right now at:
ifa-brand.com
instagram.com/ifabrand
twitter.com/IfaBrand
Tags: Book Releases, Exhibitions, Models, Photographers