Raphaël
Neal

Raphaël Neal

biography

Raphaël Neal was born in 1980 in Orsay, France. He lives and works in the UK.

His photographic work has been exhibited and published internationally since 2005. He published several monographs, including Bates Productions (2019, Editions de l’Oeil) consisting of imaginary movie stills and De qui aurais-je crainte ? (2015, Le Bec en l’Air), co-written with French author Alice Zeniter. Through portraits and self-portraits he explores themes like solitude and seduction, boredom and imposture. His series IKWIG! (2014) depicts characters who seem to find themselves in the wrong place at the wrong time. The Windows of the World (2019) evokes the solitude experienced by characters withdrawn from the world, hiding behind their windows and screens.

In 2020, during the lockdown due to the COVID-19 pandemic, he produced a new series of self-portraits, Dark Circus, which represents characters of a strange circus troupe waiting in a state of uncertainty and loneliness in the absence of an audience. During the Summer 2020, secluded in the English countryside, he produced Discreet Peaks, an ode to nature and the body. 

In 2021, he completed New Waves, a collection of portraits of teenagers and deserted landscapes, that underlines the climat change and its contradictions. In 2022, he produced a new series of self-portraits, Hollywood Nightmares, about grief, dementia and the world of cinema.

In parallel of his photographic work, Raphaël Neal collaborates regularly with musicians of their press photos and music videos (The Divine Comedy, My Brightest Diamond, Evergreen). In 2015, he released his first long feature, Fever, adapted from the eponymous novel by Leslie Kaplan and released in France and the US, and broadcast on Arte. He is now working on his second feature, Burning cloud, a road-movie to be shot in Italy.

Series

Hollywood Nightmares, 2024

Série | Hollywood Nightmares is a series of self-portraits by photographer Raphaël Neal, inspired by the portrait aesthetics of the stars of the golden age of cinema (from the 1930s to the 1950s).

British veterans, 2024

Series | Raphaël Neal has taken portraits of some of the British veterans who will be visiting the Normandy beaches for the D-Day commemoration ceremonies.

Jack in the Green, 2023

Series | In the town of Hastings, in the south-east of England, the Jack in the Green Festival takes place every year during the May Day weekend.

New Waves, 2021

Series | Heat waves, floods, tornadoes, advancing of deserts… The disasters that populate our imagination and make us shiver with pleasure in science fiction scenarios are increasingly intruding into our reality.

Discreet Peaks, 2020

Series | During summer 2020, between the two lockdowns, Raphaël Neal discovered the Peak District, a mountainous and mysterious region of central England.

Dark Circus, 2020

Serie | Dark Circus is a collection of self-portraits produced in London during the Covid-19 lockdown.

The Windows of the World, 2019

Serie | Like « Miss Lonely » in Hitchcock’s Rear Window (1954), these solitary characters wait, talk to themselves or play on their own, too afraid to step outside.

The Pied Piper, 2019

Serie | First series of self-portraits since IKWIG! (2011-2014), these images evoke the solitude experienced by characters who seem withdrawn from the world, both passive spectators of a world that goes on without them and entertainment for those who notice them, hiding behind their windows.

Gone Fishing, 2017

Serie | Upon leaving Paris in 2017, Raphaël Neal settled for several weeks in a house next to the erupting crater of Stromboli, on the mythical island of the same name made famous by Roberto Rossellini and Ingrid Bergman.

Les nouveaux vestiges, 2017

Serie | Inspired by his passion for cinema and his collections of cinema and theatre memorabilia, Raphaël Neal produced two similar series: Rescapee and Les Nouveaux vestiges (The New Remnants).

Rescapee, 2015

Serie | Inspired by his passion for cinema and his collections of cinema and theatre memorabilia, Raphaël Neal produced two similar series: Rescapee and Les Nouveaux vestiges (The New Remnants).

IKWIG !, 2014

Serie | The self-portraits from this series share one key similarity: they are related to the production and the direction of Raphaël Neal’s first feature film, Fever, released in theatres in October 2015.

Bates Productions, 2011

Serie | As a child, Raphaël Neal named his imaginary film production company Bates Productions, in tribute to the title character of Alfred Hitchcock’s Psycho, Norman Bates.

De qui aurais-je crainte ?, 2011

Serie | With the desire to leave behind the artificial light and richdecoration of studio sets in order to create pictures in naturewithout roads or construction, Raphaël Neal imagined a series built around the colour red.

Hollywood Nightmares, 2024

Série | Hollywood Nightmares is a series of self-portraits by photographer Raphaël Neal, inspired by the portrait aesthetics of the stars of the golden age of cinema (from the 1930s to the 1950s).

British veterans, 2024

Series | Raphaël Neal has taken portraits of some of the British veterans who will be visiting the Normandy beaches for the D-Day commemoration ceremonies.

Jack in the Green, 2023

Series | In the town of Hastings, in the south-east of England, the Jack in the Green Festival takes place every year during the May Day weekend.

New Waves, 2021

Series | Heat waves, floods, tornadoes, advancing of deserts… The disasters that populate our imagination and make us shiver with pleasure in science fiction scenarios are increasingly intruding into our reality.

Discreet Peaks, 2020

Series | During summer 2020, between the two lockdowns, Raphaël Neal discovered the Peak District, a mountainous and mysterious region of central England.

Dark Circus, 2020

Serie | Dark Circus is a collection of self-portraits produced in London during the Covid-19 lockdown.

The Windows of the World, 2019

Serie | Like « Miss Lonely » in Hitchcock’s Rear Window (1954), these solitary characters wait, talk to themselves or play on their own, too afraid to step outside.

The Pied Piper, 2019

Serie | First series of self-portraits since IKWIG! (2011-2014), these images evoke the solitude experienced by characters who seem withdrawn from the world, both passive spectators of a world that goes on without them and entertainment for those who notice them, hiding behind their windows.

Gone Fishing, 2017

Serie | Upon leaving Paris in 2017, Raphaël Neal settled for several weeks in a house next to the erupting crater of Stromboli, on the mythical island of the same name made famous by Roberto Rossellini and Ingrid Bergman.

Les nouveaux vestiges, 2017

Serie | Inspired by his passion for cinema and his collections of cinema and theatre memorabilia, Raphaël Neal produced two similar series: Rescapee and Les Nouveaux vestiges (The New Remnants).

Rescapee, 2015

Serie | Inspired by his passion for cinema and his collections of cinema and theatre memorabilia, Raphaël Neal produced two similar series: Rescapee and Les Nouveaux vestiges (The New Remnants).

IKWIG !, 2014

Serie | The self-portraits from this series share one key similarity: they are related to the production and the direction of Raphaël Neal’s first feature film, Fever, released in theatres in October 2015.

Bates Productions, 2011

Serie | As a child, Raphaël Neal named his imaginary film production company Bates Productions, in tribute to the title character of Alfred Hitchcock’s Psycho, Norman Bates.

De qui aurais-je crainte ?, 2011

Serie | With the desire to leave behind the artificial light and richdecoration of studio sets in order to create pictures in naturewithout roads or construction, Raphaël Neal imagined a series built around the colour red.

Hollywood Nightmares, 2024

Série | Hollywood Nightmares is a series of self-portraits by photographer Raphaël Neal, inspired by the portrait aesthetics of the stars of the golden age of cinema (from the 1930s to the 1950s).

British veterans, 2024

Series | Raphaël Neal has taken portraits of some of the British veterans who will be visiting the Normandy beaches for the D-Day commemoration ceremonies.

Jack in the Green, 2023

Series | In the town of Hastings, in the south-east of England, the Jack in the Green Festival takes place every year during the May Day weekend.

New Waves, 2021

Series | Heat waves, floods, tornadoes, advancing of deserts… The disasters that populate our imagination and make us shiver with pleasure in science fiction scenarios are increasingly intruding into our reality.

Discreet Peaks, 2020

Series | During summer 2020, between the two lockdowns, Raphaël Neal discovered the Peak District, a mountainous and mysterious region of central England.

Dark Circus, 2020

Serie | Dark Circus is a collection of self-portraits produced in London during the Covid-19 lockdown.

The Windows of the World, 2019

Serie | Like « Miss Lonely » in Hitchcock’s Rear Window (1954), these solitary characters wait, talk to themselves or play on their own, too afraid to step outside.

The Pied Piper, 2019

Serie | First series of self-portraits since IKWIG! (2011-2014), these images evoke the solitude experienced by characters who seem withdrawn from the world, both passive spectators of a world that goes on without them and entertainment for those who notice them, hiding behind their windows.

Gone Fishing, 2017

Serie | Upon leaving Paris in 2017, Raphaël Neal settled for several weeks in a house next to the erupting crater of Stromboli, on the mythical island of the same name made famous by Roberto Rossellini and Ingrid Bergman.

Les nouveaux vestiges, 2017

Serie | Inspired by his passion for cinema and his collections of cinema and theatre memorabilia, Raphaël Neal produced two similar series: Rescapee and Les Nouveaux vestiges (The New Remnants).

Rescapee, 2015

Serie | Inspired by his passion for cinema and his collections of cinema and theatre memorabilia, Raphaël Neal produced two similar series: Rescapee and Les Nouveaux vestiges (The New Remnants).

IKWIG !, 2014

Serie | The self-portraits from this series share one key similarity: they are related to the production and the direction of Raphaël Neal’s first feature film, Fever, released in theatres in October 2015.

Bates Productions, 2011

Serie | As a child, Raphaël Neal named his imaginary film production company Bates Productions, in tribute to the title character of Alfred Hitchcock’s Psycho, Norman Bates.

De qui aurais-je crainte ?, 2011

Serie | With the desire to leave behind the artificial light and richdecoration of studio sets in order to create pictures in naturewithout roads or construction, Raphaël Neal imagined a series built around the colour red.

videos

Showreel, 2023

Fever (bande annonce), Octobre 2015

books

Hollywood Nightmares

Le bec en l’air - 2024

Bates Production

Éditions de l’œil - 2019

De qui aurais-je crainte ?

Bec en l'Air Publishing - 2015

Hollywood Nightmares

Le bec en l’air - 2024

Bates Production

Éditions de l’œil - 2019

De qui aurais-je crainte ?

Bec en l'Air Publishing - 2015

Hollywood Nightmares

Le bec en l’air - 2024

Bates Production

Éditions de l’œil - 2019

De qui aurais-je crainte ?

Bec en l'Air Publishing - 2015

awards

Sony World Photo Awards, 2nd Place Creative Category (United Kingdom)

For his serie “New Waves”

2022

Winner of the Portrait of Britain Prize (United Kingdom)

For his portrait “Tom”

2021

Winner of the Portrait of Britain Prize (United Kingdom)

For his portrait “Girl in Herne Hill”

2020