Enzo Lefort: fencer and photographer

1. Can you tell us about your very first memory related to art?

Enzo: I grew up in Guadeloupe, where access to art is not as easy as in mainland France. My first real encounter with art was visiting the Louvre with my parents and my sister during the summer of 2001.

From a very young age, I have been fascinated by ancient Rome and Greek mythology. I remember being amazed to finally see in real life the sculptures I had been looking at for years in magazines.

2. What is your relationship with art today? Why is art important in your life?

Enzo: Today, art is almost omnipresent in my life. At home, where I live with my wife and daughter, we have over a hundred art books of all kinds, along with paintings, photographs, and a few design pieces.

In our free time or while on vacation, we love visiting exhibitions together, often with our daughter, who has definitely caught the bug.

As both my wife and I work in creative fields, we are constantly seeking inspiration for our work, something that art provides instantly.

3. What parallels do you see between your work as a photographer and your career as a fencer?

Enzo: I think photography has made me a better fencer, and being a fencer has given me valuable skills for photography. Let me explain. In fencing, you look for the right moment to launch your attack, just as you look for the right moment to press the shutter and capture the image you want. The speed and stress management I have developed through fencing also allow me to stay agile in challenging shooting conditions.

On the other hand, practicing photography helps me take my mind off fencing. It allows me to breathe, to put defeats into perspective, and to build confidence when I succeed in my photographic work. I then bring that clarity and confidence back into my fencing, which helps me perform better by avoiding mental fatigue and burnout.

Taking photos during competitions also helps me delay the onset of stress and preserve my mental energy.

4. How would you describe your work as a photographer? What makes your artistic universe recognizable at first glance?

Enzo: My photographic work is very focused on color, texture, and composition. It’s always difficult to talk about one’s own work, but I would say it is recognizable through the architectural lines that structure my images, as well as the soft tones characteristic of analog photography, especially medium format.

5. If you had to introduce your photography to someone unfamiliar with your work through a single photo, which one would it be and why?

Enzo: I think it would be this one. It represents my approach to composition well. But I especially love it because it captures a fleeting moment that existed for only a fraction of a second. I was in a taxi in Shanghai, and I tried to capture as quickly as possible the posture of a passerby smoking a cigarette, using the taxi window as a frame within the frame.

6. What inspires you? Where do you find your ideas?

Enzo: What inspires me most in photography is architecture, visual arts, painting, and fashion. I draw a lot of inspiration from everything around me. It might sound a bit cheesy, but I’m lucky to live in Paris, a city where there’s always so much happening and where beauty is everywhere.

Before I started practicing photography, when I moved from point A to point B, I didn’t pay much attention to my surroundings. Now, I notice everything around me.

Architecture, trash in the streets, bulky objects on the sidewalks, the way people dress, shop windows… absolutely everything is a source of inspiration for me.

7. Which artists do you admire? Which ones move you, and why?



Enzo: Martin Parr, Ren Hang, John Divola, Henri Matisse, George Condo, Hajime Sorayama. Even without tying myself to specific artists, what I love is work that explores color, humor, unexpected compositions, materiality, volume, and poetry… and actually, all of these elements can be linked back to the artists I admire.

8. Finally, what are your latest news and upcoming projects?

Enzo: I recently co-directed the documentary FÒS: Chronicles of Guadeloupean Fencing with Félix Magal and Vincent Lorca, which is now available on FranceTv.

I’m also working on a sports and culture magazine that will be released in early June, and another publishing-related project scheduled for the end of September.

In addition, I’ve been developing a deeply personal photographic series for over three years. It’s my most ambitious work to date, and I hope to exhibit it in an institutional museum and create an edition from it.

On top of all that, I’m training hard every day for the 2028 Olympic Games in Los Angeles.

Their favorite artworks