Women photographers claim their place at Paris Photo Fair
As the 26th edition of the Paris Photo Fair opened this week, work by women made up more than a third of the photography on show. For the past five years, an initiative to promote female artists has helped improve women's representation at the world's largest international photography fair.
Issued on:
"Elles x Paris Photo seeks to support women artists and create more visibility and space for them," Fiona Rogers, guest curator for the project, told RFI.
"It also encourages galleries to consider working with more women artists," she says.
The Elles x Paris Photo initiative has been running for five years in partnership with the French culture ministry and supported by Women In Motion, a programme run by the French luxury goods giant Kering.
When the project started in 2018, only about 20 percent of the artists featured at the Paris Photo Fair were women. Today they make up around 36 percent.
"My selection includes 38 of those women," says Rogers.
Rogers, who also curates the Parasol Foundation Women in Photography project at the Victoria and Albert Museum in London, told RFI her selection featured artists who "are using their lived experience to talk about their lives and reflect on the light of their lives".
"A lot of artists use performance-based work or self-portraiture to make a wider statement about what it means to be a mother, a daughter or somebody who is gender non-conforming," she says.
Read also:
- Picture what it means to be a Chadian woman
- Nigerian artist weaves women's stories through traditional cloth
Paris Photo Fair is at the Grand Palais Ephémère until 12 November 2023, featuring 191 exhibitors from 25 countries.
Daily newsletterReceive essential international news every morning
Subscribe