Biography
Clément Olivier Meylan (born 1957 in Bern, Switzerland) is a Swiss photographer whose career spans over four decades. Early recognition came with consecutive Nikon Awards in Switzerland and Japan, followed by the FNAC National Art Prize in Paris. In 1994 he was awarded the prestigious Bourse de la Ville de Paris photography grant and held residencies at the Centre Culturel Suisse (Paris) and the Maison de la Culture du Japon (Paris), with which he collaborated for more than a decade.
Meylan’s work has been exhibited internationally at venues such as the Musée de l’Elysée (Lausanne), ART Basel with Galerie Carzaniga (Basel), Artists Space (New York), and the Muséum National d’Histoire Naturelle (Paris). His photographs are part of major public and private collections, including the Bibliothèque nationale de France, the Fotostiftung Schweiz, and the collection of Gunther Sachs. He lives in Zürich and maintains an active studio in Paris.
Artist’s Statement
For me, creation has always been a vessel in the storm of life, with change as my constant companion - and my work mirrors it. Each project forms its own universe, distinct in style yet bound by recurring themes: the exploration of limits, fragility, and transformation. I resist being reduced to a single label - freedom, both personal and artistic, is at the core of my practice.
My path began with a documentary approach, capturing urban life and the overlooked corners of our world. Later came experiments on the margins of photography - light-painting, skin-prints, dissolving form. At first glance these phases may seem disconnected, but the same questions always return, reshaping themselves in new forms.
I work with suggestion rather than explicit depiction, leaving space for imagination. The goal is always the printed photograph - something tangible, crafted by my own hands, from the pigment print to the frame - so that each image embodies both a vision and a trace of a life lived in motion.