Dans les yeux de Steve Fiehl (H.88)

“I’ve always been interested in resilience. People with challenging life experiences have always taught me so much,” says former entrepreneur Steve Fiehl. “And my photography is an attempt to pay homage to their vulnerability, legacy and, yes, their defiance. They have so much to teach us.”

Hard to imagine that Fiehl has much to learn. The bespectacled photographer first enjoyed the ups-and-downs of an entrepreneurial career which featured the pioneering success of the CrossKnowledge platform he cofounded – a suite which revolutionized blended learning in the 2000’s, both in France and the USA. The online education platform blossomed into companies employing 400 people in 10 countries before he resigned in New York in 2018 to follow an old passion for visual arts.

As part of his one-year course at the renowned International Center for Photography, Fiehl began a “people & places” project at Manhattan’s Bowery Mission. “This is a closed center which helps the homeless get back on their feet after years of drug addiction. They’ve always refused to allow any cameras in but they saw this funny French guy who promised to stay around for three months to tell their story and said, well, okay.”

“I’m color blind!”

The result? 18 months of induction in the Mission, visited three-four days a week. It gave birth to a series of exhibitions, a poignant testimony in black-and-white of the hardships of street living. But why the choice not to shoot in color? Fiehl laughs: “I’ll let you in on a secret: I’m color blind! This exhibition on campus is the first time I’ve gone for color.”

Yet, the 16 photos now hanging around HEC’s Hall of Honor radiate a form of life and intensity that color only enhances: “Until now, I’ve been attracted to people on the bottom rung of society, desperate yet somehow defiant in the worst social conditions. So, black-and-white deepens these traits. That wouldn’t have been the case with these women who’ve resisted and turned their vulnerabilities into strength. ”

Yet, Fiehl remains faithful to his quest for depth: “I wanted something that wasn’t corporate, so we explored their deep-seated convictions, their doubts, anger, negative energies, too. We discussed the huge challenges they had to overcome to reach their goals. And my photos tried to reflect that depth.”

As a result, there is the trenchant look of Fatoumata Kebe, the exhibition’s poster entrepreneur, staring with intensity and a certain melancholy into the lens, an ethereal yellow glow behind her. The cofounder of Beauté Inée used HEC’s Start Up program to develop a pioneering virtual institute for dermatological problems. Fiehl elaborates: “I asked them to travel deep inside, into what were often very difficult stories. It’s a psychological journey which can unify your positives with negatives. For me, this is the foundational stepping-stone towards becoming a leader.”

And the impact on the women themselves? “I came out of it exhausted!” laughs Djihene Abdellilah in front of her portrait. “He really pushed me to look at the path I’ve taken to reach here, which has been quite an uphill one. Coming from an isolated rural part of France, I’ve always dreamt of making it to HEC. So, the picture is something of a consecration of the long road I’ve taken.”

“These 16 portraits are a homage to their courage, their determination and their ambition,” adds HEC Paris’ Dean Eloïc Peyrache. Both him and Fiehl go back decades, to Grenoble when they collaborated on the CrossKnowledge project. “Eloïc and I have been talking a few years now about increasing exposure to art on the campus,” explains Fiehl. “The 10th anniversary of Stand Up gave us the idea of a joint project with social impact.”