Madame Figaro-Arles Photo Prize 2024: zoom in on the 7 nominated photographers

Since 2016, the Prix de la Photo-Madame Figaro has honored the work of female photographers. This year, seven artists were selected from the festival program for the quality and originality of their work.

The jury for the 2024 edition will include gallery owner Kamel Menur, actresses Ana Girardot and Nadia Tereskevic, photographer Charlotte Abramow, actress and model Constance Arnault, choreographer Leo Walk, actor César Domboy and designer. Louboutin. This exclusive jury will deliver their verdict alongside Anne-Florence Schmitt, Joseph Ghosn and Gwenola Kuedel, Madame Figaro.

Supporting women’s photography is an important value of our award, which rewards creativity, commitment and the ability to develop a powerful view of the world. The winner of the Madame Figaro-Arles Photo Prize will create a fashion portfolio on our pages and receive a €10,000 grant, supported by the Women in Motion, Kering program, which will allow the Rencontres d’Arles to acquire some programs. his prints. Fnac as well as Augustinus Bader beauty brand accompany us to this event. The winner will succeed Hannah Darabi, our 2023 winner.

Debbie Cornwall

His journey. He is an American documentary artist who uses several mediums. After twelve years as a lawyer specializing in civil rights, he returned to artistic practice while continuing his legal work.

His projects. He touches sound as much as image and is interested in archives and testimonies. It questions the articulation of power and the creation of fictional myths that fuel Americans and serve as tools for the country’s militarization supporters.

What he discovers. For his project Necessary art, he investigated ten US Army bases where soldiers train in recreated locations of the countries they are called upon to intervene. Among them, Afghan or Iraqi civilians who have fled their countries serve as extras in these strange scenarios. Model citizens juxtaposes Border Patrol training camps, pro-Trump rallies, and history museums where the glorification of America is perpetuated. Everything calls into question the representation and construction of violence in the United States.

Espace Monoprix, Boulevard Émile-Combes, Place Lamartine, 13200 Arles.

Keiko Sasaoka

His journey. This Japanese photographer was born and raised in Hiroshima in an environment marked by historical drama. He studied photography in Tokyo and quickly became interested in memorials, which he captured almost compulsively.

His projects. In his series Park City, Since 2001, he has been occupying parks, monuments and memorials erected in memory of the atomic bombings of August 1945. He continues to do this work today. After the 2011 earthquake, the photographer turned his research to the tragedy sites of his series. Coastline And A reminder.

What he discovers. Participated in a collective exhibition in Arles Copies – 03/11/11 A Japanese photographic presentation in the face of cataclysm, with a close focus on the seismic disaster of March 11, 2011 and its catastrophic effects on the Fukushima power plant. Drafting garden, it lists the various memorials established in the last ten years since the tragedy. His two series for Rencontres Park And Park City will be collected.

Espace Van Gogh, 18, place Felix-Ray, 13200 Arles.

Chepiso Mazibuko

His journey. The young South African photographer was born in 1995 in Tokoza township, a few kilometers away from Johannesburg. After discovering photography in high school, he seized the medium to denounce the realities of his country through photographs taken in Tokoza. He is one of the founding members of the Umhlabathi collective, which unites several photographers from Johannesburg.

His projects. Politics, society, landscapes and history… His work is based on questions of generation born free born free after the abolition of apartheid in 1991. He highlights the persistence of segregation, which has a heavy impact on young black South Africans.

What he discovers. He presents the project Ho tshepa ntsepedi ya bontshepe (“to believe in something that will never come”), according to a Sesotho proverb. It characterizes the spirit of black youth born free to which he belongs, in a country that has retained the stigma of a very unequal society.

Espace Monoprix, Boulevard Émile-Combes, Place Lamartine, 13200 Arles.

Vimala Pons and Nhu Xuan Hua

Their journey. Vimala Pons excels in performing arts, acting and music; Nhu Xuan Hua has made a name for herself in photography and fashion in particular.

Their projects. After the first solo concert in 2022 and the Flavien Berger video in 2023, Vimala Pons presents her first video this year. I promise I’ll come and save you At the Anne Barrault Gallery in Paris. He will perform a new solo concert in 2025. Alongside her work as a fashion photographer, Nhu Xuan Hua has a more intimate project exploring memory and, in particular, her Vietnamese heritage. She was featured in a solo exhibition at Paris Photo 2023.

What they discover. From the meeting of these two artists, a performance and photography collaboration was born, which takes the form of questioning the female subject in photography. The two artists isolated nine icons, from Drew Barrymore to Florence Artaud through Mel C to the Spice Girls, whom they reinterpreted in compositions that disrupt the idea of ​​balance and question reality and its representation.

Saint-Blaise Church, 33, rue Vauban, 13200 Arles.

Marie Katayama

His journey. Marie Katayama was born with a rare disease that caused both of her legs to be amputated as a child. From this injury, he created a work of art based on self-portraits, which won several awards in Japan.

His projects. The artist, who wears prosthetics, began her artistic career by creating her own models, which she photographed and published online. Little by little, he developed a unique aesthetic, and the photographic medium became his field of experimentation. Between photography, sewing and sculpture, she uses her body as a medium. He is also interested in the contrast between creation as an intimate process and exposing it to the public eye. His work has been the subject of several international exhibitions at the Tate Modern in London, the House of European Photography in Paris and the Venice Biennale.

What he discovers. Within the collective exhibition What a joy to see you! Regarding Japanese female photography, she shows some of her recent photographs (2016 and 2023) that actively participate in the representation of Japanese society and question the place of the “different body”.

Archbishop’s Palace, 35, place de la République, 13200 Arles.

Randa Mirza

His journey. He was born in Lebanon and today lives between Beirut and Marseille. Outside of his private practice, he collaborates with the artist Lara Tabet, with whom he creates the Jeanne et Moreau duo.

His projects. As a visual artist, she uses several media (photo, video, installation, and performance) in pursuit of a loyal point of view between the affirmation of feminist, decolonial thought and the critique of established norms.

What he discovers. He will present his project beirutopia, won the Eyes Wide Open Award and the Rencontres Photo Folio Review Award. This paper is a global analysis of Lebanon. Through seven works spanning two decades (2000-2022), he traces the tortuous path his country of origin has navigated through the many multidimensional crises of recent years. This monographic exhibition presents the artist’s critical point of view on the transformations imposed on his city after the end of the war. It catalyzes the lost hopes and deep disappointments created by the terrible explosion of August 4, 2020.

House of Artists, 43, Boulevard Émile-Combes, 13200 Arles.