Charlotte Bories
VISUAL ARTIST - FINE ART PHOTOGRAPHER
Charlotte Bories is a French fine art photographer working primarily underwater, where she creates her images on a single breath. This singular approach has led her to develop a distinctive visual language.
She graduated with the jury's Highest Honors from the École supérieure des Beaux-Arts d'Angers (France) in 2008, presenting a graduation project centred on the theme of memento mori, a reflection on impermanence that continues to inform her work.
In 2020, she received the Special Discovery of the Year and Gold Star Award distinction at the ND Awards for her series Sleeping Beauty.
Her work has been exhibited in Indonesia and the United States, and is held in private collections.
« And then, when all the reflections have been seen, the dreamer looks at the water itself,
and he believes that he has caught it in the act of crafting beauty. »
— Gaston Bachelard —
I have always seen the surface of the water as a gateway to another world.
A world where our familiar landmarks dissolve, where time seems suspended, and where wonder is often tinged with unease. It is a place that fascinates me as much for its beauty as for its mystery.
Perhaps that is why I photograph underwater. I have the feeling that water reveals something that usually remains hidden. Boundaries soften, bodies are transformed, and what lies beneath the surface of our inner lives seems to emerge. It is as though water allows our inner landscapes to become visible.
Through photography, I try to gather tangible evidence of an elusive world. Fragments of a journey that can only be experienced for the duration of a single breath, much like a dream that slips away the moment we awaken. Dreams and the underwater world share this same fleeting nature. Creating images is perhaps my way of extending the journey.
I do not expect my photographs to deliver a message or a single truth. I simply hope they offer a space for contemplation and daydreaming, where each viewer is free to bring their own emotions, memories and inner mythology.
Process
Every photograph I create is made on a single breath.
This is not a technical challenge or a performance. It is an essential part of my creative process. Working underwater means accepting that part of the image will always remain beyond my control. The movement of the body, the currents, the fabric, the hair and the reflections constantly reshape the scene as it unfolds.
Each project begins with a clear intention. A sketch, an emotion, an idea, sometimes the echo of a painting or a myth. But once submerged, that intention enters into dialogue with a living, unpredictable element that refuses complete control. The final image emerges from the tension between what I imagined and what the water reveals.
Every shoot is an exploration.
I begin with a vision, yet the water always transforms it into something I could never have fully anticipated. Rather than resisting that uncertainty, I have learned to embrace it. It is often in those fleeting, unrepeatable moments that the photographs I am searching for finally appear.
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Finalist — Siena Creative Awards, 2026
Finalist — Beautiful Bizarre Art Prize, 2023
Winner 2nd place — ND Awards, 2021
Nominee — Fine Art Photography Awards, 2021
Winner 2nd place — Chromatic Awards, 2021
Winner 1st place Gold Star Award and Special Discover of the Year —ND Awards, 2020
Honorable mention — Chromatic Awards, 2020
Honorable mention — Monochrome Photography Awards, 2020
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2026 : Solo show “Beneath the waves” (1 jun - 30 sep) — Maua Nusa Penida, Indonesia
2026 : Part of Venus Reclaimed : Stenght & Identity (5 mar - 24 apr) — 33 Contemporary Gallery — Miami, FL, USA
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2023 : Beautiful Bizarre Magazine — featured photo (printed magazine)
2023 : Waterproof Magazine — “20 emerging & established underwater creators” (printed magazine)
2023 : Ikelite — “Underwater women we love”
2022 : Diverbliss — “15 amazing women underwater photographer [...]”
2022 : Ikelite — “Charlotte Bories, dreaming underwater”
2022 : Ultraviolet Fashion Mag — interview
2022 : The Phoblographer — “Charlotte Bories creates the most beautiful [...]”
2021 : Lensational Magazine — January, no.78
2020 : Inoventa Awards — Yearbook : a selection of some of the best entries from the contest.
2020 : Chromatic Awards — Yearbook : a selection of some of the best entries from the contest.
