Since 2018, the Louis Roederer Foundation has supported the emergence of young talent through the Rencontres d’Arles Discovery Prize, which accompanies young talent in contemporary photography.
The ten projects selected this year by the Louis Roederer Foundation in Arles are treated, from selection to hanging, as one exhibition. Breathing in the photo opens at the iconic site of the festival, the Frere-Prescher Church.
“The 2022 edition of the Louis Roederer Discovery Prize is not about the subject or genre per se, but about the selected photographers’ approach to image creation. A prism is a prism of the “pre-photographic” process; what motivates and births the project? The artists here all talk about the intimate, from trauma to grief,” explains curator Taus Dahmani, assisted by scenographer Amanda Antunes. The 10 finalists, chosen from 280 eligible, thus have intimacy as the common denominator.
Behind the Scenes of the 6th Madame Figaro Photography Prize Jury Visits in Arles
From family drama to country history
On July 8, Rahim Fortune received the jury prize (€15,000 and part of his works included in the Rencontres collection) inside the antique theater. The 28-year-old African-American photographer, who lives between Austin and Brooklyn, returned to Texas in early 2020 to be at his dying father’s bedside. His personal mourning will intersect with the history of his country, the murder of George Floyd, protests against racism in the United States and police violence. His series I can’t stand to see you cry(Can’t stand to see you cry, editor’s note) through tender portraits of families confirms the images of suburban houses and the image of the scar, the stigma of a police bullet, the correspondence of his wounds and the brokenness of the country.
Russia respected
An intimate approach shared by Hamburg-based Russian photographer Mika Sperling, who received the Audience Award (awards of €5,000) for his series. I didn’t do anything wrong. Interweaving text and image, she confronts her traumas, her grandfather’s sexual abuse, and tries to break this family and societal taboo of incest.
Besides these two awards, the jury made a special reference to Olga Grotova’s project. For The gardens of our grandmothers A Russian artist traveled between Moscow and the Urals in search of a lost family garden, creating authentic plant paintings for the occasion. By exploring absence, absence, mourning, the Roederer Prize fulfills its mission to highlight the emerging scene. The 2022 edition resonates beyond the particular, sharing Gaston Bachelard’s formula: “phenomenology of the soul.”
The ten artists of the Louis Roederer Discovery Prize can be discovered until September 25 at the Frere-Prescher Church in Arles, www.rencontres-arles.com.
Source: Le Figaro
