00:00For the 2026 calendar, I want to capture emotions, instincts and states of mind that's central to
00:15human life. So, longing for freedom, curiosity, thirst of knowledge I guess we can call it,
00:22some kind of mystery, imagination, passions, the desire for emancipation,
00:28the connection with nature and our relationship with time and space.
00:34Very big issues, but you know, let's try to be ambitious.
00:42Well, the element that I made Solve give me was earth. I was originally water
00:53and then I was actually air, but I said I wanted to be earth.
00:58I feel absolutely wind, because, like wind, I can be a sweet and welcoming, cold and
01:11summer, as well as I can be a storm.
01:16Nature is a way that I plug myself into a wall. It's how I get my energy and hopefully I can repay that energy
01:23back, but it's everything.
01:29The elements are a reduction of nature in a way. It's always been a way of understanding nature.
01:35From very early civilization, you know, you have like the earth, wind, fire, water,
01:40as a way of reducing nature into something we can comprehend and talk about. So, it felt very natural to
01:47work within a framework where you take everything, basically, because nature is everything,
01:52into something that you can distill and control in a picture. So, that's where it came from.
01:58To be on set and being giving wind element, I feel like the whole set transformed into this magical
02:10place where I felt freedom, a special energy and it's just everything becomes so surreal. Everything,
02:22you stop thinking and you just take it in and that's when the most beautiful pictures get captured.
02:32Water, to me, is my most favorite thing to drink and to be in. And even as a child, people used to
02:39ask me, what do you want to drink? You know, children's parties and things like that. I'd always be
02:43water and they'd just be like, what? But I grew up in Malawi and Nigeria and so I was taught to swim
02:49very, very young age. So, I was swimming from about six months old and I've been swimming all my life
02:54and it's my favorite thing and so I love water.
03:01The process of the calendar was that you started thinking of how to visualize it and then to do it
03:09outside felt overwhelming because of all the information you get. So, for me, a reductionist
03:15approach was to kind of take it inside so you can control everything. So, we started using
03:21new technology in terms of using huge LED walls and you can go out and sort of almost harvest
03:28nature and then bring it into the studio. So, I was given the element of fire and I think it's perfect.
03:35I absolutely think it's perfect. It represents who I am as a person. I'm very passionate.
03:42I'm never afraid. Fire just takes over. I definitely take over, especially in my own life. And just,
03:50I think it represented the player that I've always been. Just power, controlled aggression
03:58and strength. It's definitely the perfect element for me.
04:02Photography is a craving. Photography is a search. Photography is a passion. For me, it is to create
04:15a moment where everything is right. Not right as in everything is fine. It is a moment that I can control
04:24and I can send out into the world and I can sort of say, how about this? Is this something you find
04:31interesting? Is this something you find beautiful? Do I ask some interesting questions with this? And I
04:35have a need for that. That moment of communication is important for me.
04:42I've never worked with Solveig before and it was one of the reasons I wanted to do the photo
04:47besides the prestige of being in the Pirelli calendar. Because he's such a fantastic photographer.
04:54And I particularly like his experiment with video.
04:58He captures the beauty of the woman in its purest form. You know, like it's almost anatomical,
05:07but not. And then it's kind of digital at the same time. So he combines the digital world with the
05:16most primitive kind of, you know, body structure together. It's very visceral. It's very intimate.
05:27It's extremely bold and futuristic at the same time.
05:35I think he's a very quiet person, but you can also feel that he's a
05:42person who's a very familiar person. And he's a very special person, and he's a very special person.
05:58Joy is really significant in any sort of working relationship, creative relationship. To be able
06:08to find some kind of joy together. A deep respect of one another and the pure pleasure of it.
06:19How many goodly creatures are there here? How beauteous mankind is. Oh, brave new world
06:28that has such people in it.
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