For her first series Jungle, Reine Paradis stages herself as the protagonist, bringing to life the dreamlike scenes she has previously sketched. This performative aspect is key to her image-making process: ‘It is a necessity for me to “live” the scene in order to transmit the original vision completely.’ In Empty Pool, offered here, a setting that we normally associate with water and movement is transformed into one of emptiness and stillness. Applying hyperreal colours and fictional touches to real locations, in this case, an empty public pool in Los Angeles, Paradis playfully explores the boundaries between reality and fiction. She self-published her first monograph Jungle in 2017 and her 2019 feature documentary Queen of Paradis – on the making of her latest series Midnight – has won ‘Best Feature’ at the LA Indie Film Festival.