Carla Borel

In 2018, Borel was one of the photographers, with her portrait of Louise Haigh MP included in the Women Exhibition at Portcullis House – portraits of female MPs, all photographed by female photographers. The exhibition opened on 14 December, to mark the centenary of the date that some women over 30 and all men over 21 were able to cast their first vote, as part of a year-long series of events and exhibitions commemorating the women and men who fought to achieve electoral equality.

Homme Libre (2017) was a set of candid portraits of men, in which Borel explored identity, community and ideas of masculinity as seen from a female perspective, and the degree of her own intimacy with the subjects. The title is taken from a Baudelaire poem, L'Homme et la Mer, in Les Fleurs du Mal. All the subjects wore a t-shirt bearing the first line from the poem: "Homme libre, toujours tu chériras la mer!". Notable subjects included Neil Bartlett and Adnan Sarwar. Borel published a photo zine of the prints, which were exhibited at A22 Gallery in London.

The Animals Were Beautiful (2016) were portraits of strangers travelling on the London Underground. Borel discreetly used an iPhone camera. In 2016 they were exhibited at the Royal Photographic Society's Magic Gallery, one of which was included in the Royal Academy Summer Exhibition group show. The title came from a video of Bruce Davidson discussing his Subway project in which he said the series happened in New York because he "didn’t need to go to the Serengeti plains, the animals were right here and they were beautiful".

Carla Borel (born 1973) is a French-British photographer. She has made portraits and black and white street photographs in Soho, London.