States of an Eating Self

Camille Poitevin

Nominated by

2025

In "States of an Eating Self", Camille Poitevin turns her lens toward one of our most fundamental yet socially regulated acts: eating. Shot in a neutral, studio-like setting using a slow, uninterrupted tracking shot, the project invites participants to share a meal together, not as a performance, but as a lived moment. They are not directed or staged, but simply invited to eat freely, attentively, together. The artist’s process deliberately shifts the codes of studio portraiture. Rather than pursuing control or ideal form, she creates the conditions for something spontaneous to emerge. Her selection focuses on what typically escapes representation: the in-between gestures, micro-expressions, and subtle physical responses that unfold when attention is turned inward. This act of slowing down challenges the aesthetics of efficiency and polish, and allows space for presence and introspection. By working with sexised subjects - those whose bodies have historically been regulated in how they appear, move, and take up space - the artist examines how gendered norms and consumer culture shape our relationship to desire, control, and visibility. In this way, eating becomes more than nourishment: it becomes a political gesture, a quiet resistance, and a site for reclaiming embodied presence. It reveals itself as a site of negotiation between internal experience and external gaze.

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Camille Poitevin

Nominated in

2025

Camille Poitevin

Lives and Works in

Brussels

Camille Poitevin (b. Montreal, Canada, 1996) is a french multidisciplinary artist based in Brussels. Installation plays a central role in her practice : drawing from lens-based media, sculpture, sound, and performance, she creates time for introspection in a fast-paced society. In doing so, she aims to challenge social norms, unfreezing preconceived ideas in human interactions, social roles, and personal identity. She holds a Bachelor’s degree in Applied Arts from Concordia University in Montreal (2018) and a Master’s degree in Visual Arts (Photography) from ENSAV La Cambre in Brussels (2022). During her master’s studies, she was awarded a creation grant from the King Baudouin Foundation as well as the Servix Prize. Her work has been presented in Belgium (FOMU, Musée Botanique, Beursschouwburg, BPS22, Hangar Art Center, Ateliers Mommen, HISK Gosset site, CAL Charleroi), the Netherlands (De Brakke Grond, Marres Huis voor Hedendaagse Cultuur), France (FRAC Franche-Comté), and Italy (Fondazione Sant’Elia). In 2025, she takes part in the group exhibition Art au Centre in Liège, as well as in the .TIFF Emerging Belgian Photography program presented at FOMU and later at De Brakke Grond, within which she was selected for the European FUTURES Photography platform. That same year, she participates in Art Contest at the Musée Botanique, where she receives the Collectors’ Prize. She lives and works in Brussels and develops her practice within the collective studio Koekelhouse (Young European Artists).

More projects by this artist

2025

Picture Element

"Picture Element" is a video installation bringing together over 6,000 lenses salvaged from used disposable cameras, reassembled into a frame that slows down the frenetic pace of digital instantaneity. The accompanying video captures people's mouths in the act of eating, with a particular focus on gender-minoritized individuals. The visual treatment, blending close-up shots, pixelation, and glitches, reflects the tension between control and release.

Show full project

2025

Puzzling

Driven by the desire to provoke introspection rather than satisfy a need for contemplation, Camille Poitevin seeks to tame and subvert various techniques and mediums in order to use them in a personal and critical way. Drawing from sociological and feminist theories, her approach aims to reveal the invisible structures that shape our perceptions and behaviors, particularly under the influence of what sociologist Zygmunt Bauman terms the "liquid society" – a world dominated by consumption and immediacy, where everything becomes unstable. Her work sheds light on the emotional, relational, and identity-related contradictions and tensions that result, often exacerbated by social norms and collective pressures. It also raises questions about the value attributed to objects and images in a society where excess is normalized and drowned in the mass. Through her art, Camille Poitevin invites a critical pause, a moment of reflection on the ephemeral and the invisible, on what is seen and what remains hidden, while also questioning the durability of that which, nevertheless, dissolves quickly.