Gwendoline Christie

Actress and model

“I love the idea of unity. The idea of embodying something that is about ultimate connectivity between everything on earth. It was very exciting to me, but also gave me a great sense of peace”

English actress Gwendoline Christie, best known for roles in TV series Game of Thrones and Severance, as well as the recent Star Wars films, was thrilled to represent “ether” in this year’s Pirelli Calendar shoot. She describes an almost “mythic experience” as she took her position on a plinth, with all the studio lights turned off, and was “painted with light” by photographer Sølve Sundsbø. She says of the process using fibreoptics…

“I love when technology is used as an extension of a human experience, when it’s used to elevate something beyond human capabilities, when it’s used to help people’s healthcare, pain and standard of living or wellbeing, and in creativity to support the creator. I like it as an additional tool”

Away from work, the element the actress most identifies with is water, and she describes one of her favourite places as California’s Big Sur, with its huge scale of both Pacific Ocean and ancient land. She mentions, too, a film she loves which features water at the centre of the narrative…

“One of my favourite films of all time is Jane Campion’s The Piano – the use of water and the endless, bottomless emotion that water often is emblematic of: ever-changing, the idea of holding multiple things at one time, always in a state of flux. I think it’s the element most expressive of being human”

Christie was equally thrilled to be working with Sundsbø. He is someone she’s worked with often before and who she’s convinced brings out the best not just in her but in everyone he works with…

“He assembles a brilliant team and he lets the imagination fire in the moment. You feel very held by him. It allows you as the subject to truly relax and give yourself over creatively. There’s ultimate trust there”

In fact, it was Sundsbø who previously took a photograph of Christie that, to this day, she considers her personal favourite of herself…

“We had some fabric over my face and that made me feel extremely liberated and very free. It’s an image of me with my mouth open, but it’s all very obscured, I love the juxtaposition of being concealed by the fabric with my inner self completely revealed in that moment”

Christie shares she doesn’t like being photographed when she is not involved in creating art, but she feels “at home” on this Pirelli shoot, feeling the Calendar honours an evolving definition of beauty to include all sorts of people with different perspectives. She reflects:

“We do live in changing times and one of the positive elements of that is that we’re starting to live in a more inclusive world, one where people can express themselves more fully. I think community is really important for that. You find your people, hopefully – and I’m probably, as I move through life, finding more of mine”