Clémence Polès Farhang is a creative director, photographer & curator based in New York City.
Half French, half Iranian, and raised in a skyscraper-less Dubai, Clémence has always had a deep curiosity and fascination with people—how they live, what they listen to, and what motivates them.
In 2015, she founded passerby, an online magazine, club, and newsletter with a dedicated following that offers intimate portraits of women around the world. The platform has been featured in Vogue, Architectural Digest, Gossamer, and The Strategist, among others.
After having interviewed over 400 women, Clémence sought to create more spaces that empower women by co-founding FFFest in 2018, a nonprofit film festival dedicated to making women filmmakers' work visible. The festival has presented significant cultural events, including the first retrospective of Kei Fujiwara's work and screenings with Q&As featuring filmmakers such as Shirin Neshat, Laurie Simmons, and Crystal Moselle. Since 2025, she has collaborated with Metrograph in New York on Iranian cinema programming, including a retrospective of Sepideh Farsi’s films.
As a photographer and curator, Clémence continues to create platforms for underrepresented voices while developing a body of work that examines the intersections of culture, identity, and the spaces we call home.
She is also the Creative Director at The No. 29, a social-impact-driven communications firm working across design, tech, fashion, film, and food. In 2021, she launched the firm’s podcast Enough., which challenges traditional business narratives and highlights creative solutions to the inequities of today.
Clients: Vogue, The Guardian, New York Magazine, BBC, Acacia Magazine, FAR-NEAR, Well + Good, Anyone Girl, and more.
Press: Vogue (1) (2) (3) (4) (5) (6) (7), Wall Street Journal, Architectural Digest (1) (2), The Cut (1) (2), Coveteur (1) (2), Anyone Girl Issue 3, Why This Is Interesting, Repeller, Gossamer, Maude, Maimoun, The Pleasure List, Thingtesting, Moveable Fest, meaww, Imperfectly Perfect, Girls Night In, Curbed, Condé Nast Traveler, WSJ (1) (2), Camilla and Marc, Society 6 Blog, The Blank Letter, and Cap Beauty.
Instagram: @clemencepoles
Email: clemence@passerbymagazine.com