No Waste Art

by Editor Michel Romaggi in collaboration with the author Agnes
Edited and published by Yvette Depaepe, the 6th of July 2026.

‘Xerox Saint’

Dear Agnes, could you tell us how you came up with the idea for Xerox Saint?

Xerox Saint was created using my own photographs, a found texture and a series of visual decisions made during the editing process. I came up with the idea for Xerox Saint first. I already had a diptych from a previous nude photography project, as I am interested in fine art nude photography. The image is based on two black-and-white self-portraits taken with my mobile phone. Both photographs are simple selfies: one shows my face and the other shows my breast.

First, I combined the two images to create a diptych, then I added a texture that I found on Snapchat. I then adjusted the colours and intensity until the image looked right. My process is usually more intuitive than technical. I experiment with simple elements and follow the image until it achieves the desired atmosphere.

My creative process often involves a combination of photography, collage, digital manipulation, found materials, textures, typography and experimentation.

‘Zeitpunkt’

My work with photography takes many forms, including digital cameras, mobile phones, analogue photography and pinhole cameras.
For instance, I have a substantial collection of colourful analogue photographs taken with a plastic toy camera known as the Diana Multi Pinhole Operator. Although it is a €50 camera from China, it has a long and fascinating history.

Many of those photographs were technically unsuccessful. However, I loved the colours, the grain, the imperfections and the analogue aesthetic. Rather than discarding them, I scanned the images and breathed new life into them using colour filters and digital manipulation. Today, they work perfectly as textures and visual layers in my work.

I call this approach 'No-Waste Art'.

Photoshop is my main creative tool. As I am largely self-taught, I don't always achieve exactly what I imagine, so I'm always looking for alternative solutions. I use phone and Snapchat filters, mobile apps, and experimental software — basically, I use filters everywhere!
The final image often has very little in common with the starting point.

‘Virtual Insanity’

‘Still Life, White’

‘LOL (Legions of Love)’

What does photography mean to you?

To me, an image is a means of communicating with the outside world.
I want to connect with the observer and provoke a reaction. For me, photography is not about documenting reality. It's about translating ideas, emotions, questions and stories into a visual form.
I use and combine every technique I can think of to express myself.
Sometimes I succeed immediately. Other times, I have to give up for a while because what I want to create seems impossible at that particular moment in time. Then I keep searching.
I am not particularly interested in how an image was made.
What interests me is whether it works.
Does it communicate?
Does it touch someone?
Does it make someone stop scrolling for a moment and actually feel something?
The technique is never the goal.
It's the idea that matters.
The image simply finds the tools it needs.