Over the past 27 years, Paris Photo has grown into one of the world’s leading photography fairs. It is a major date in the calendar, driving important conversations about lens-based media. This November, the 28th edition offers a diverse and dynamic programme, showing 220 exhibitors from 33 countries. Florence Bourgeois, Director of Paris Photo, says: “Bolder, more diverse and more international, this edition brings together galleries and artists from every continent, confirming Paris’s central role as a place for showcasing, reflecting on and promoting the medium.”
This year’s event has one particularly unique offering: its Digital Sector, launched in 2023. The introduction of the section saw Paris Photo become the first European fair to start a conversation around algorithms, networks and machine vision – questioning how they expand the possibilities of the medium. The role of digital methods is a controversial topic, as those in the industry debate whether tools like AI can enhance artistic expression, without losing creative integrity. This year, 13 exhibitors take on these pressing questions. Julieta Tarraubella’s The Secret Life of Flowers unfolds as an audiovisual installation that takes the form of a “cyborg-garden.” Mosaicked screens show a time-lapsed lifecycle of flowers, exemplifying how digital methods can expand how we visualise growth, beauty and mortality. Meanwhile, Kevin Abosch presents AI as a part of photography, just as valuable as the analogue or digital. The artist creates generative images and videos, made with software that he trained with hundreds of his own pictures. This is not a break from traditional photography, Abosch argues, but rather, part of its evolution. Paris Photo’s Digital Sector is a symbol of the event’s forward-looking approach to curation.
Elsewhere, the Emergence Sector continues this dedication to innovation. The exhibition features 20 projects by galleries that are promoting new approaches and singular voices on the international scene. Here, voices from around the world come together to paint a vibrant picture of photography’s future. Atong Atem, a Melbourne-based artists originally from South Sudan, interrogates photography as a framework for looking at the world and its people. Atem references the works of 20th century African studio photographers like Malicke Sidibe, Philip Kwame Apagya and Seydou Kaita, exploring the inherent intimacy of portraits and the role of those behind the camera as storytellers. Melissa Schriek, presented by Hama Gallery, Amsterdam, describes her work as existing in a space between fiction and reality, where in staged settings, scenes unfold naturally. Her training as a dancer adds a physicality to images, which often feel as though they are in motion with energy or spontaneity.
The rest of the fair is, as always, brimming with emerging voices, world-renowned galleries and freshly-printed publications to discover. One highlight is IBASHO, Antwerp, a space dedicated to Japanese photography. Its line-up includes Kumi Oguro, who works with female models in staged settings, contemplating the line between what is typically thought of as “alluring” or “attractive” and what’s seen as strange or unsettling. In one shot, two figures in pink outfits embrace. Their dark hair is intertwined, making it difficult to tell where one ends and the other begins. Paris Photo cites “kinship and relationships” as a major curatorial throughline this year, and Oguro is a prime example. The work of Marta Zgierska, presented by Jednostka Gallery, echoes Oguro in its criticism of the pressure placed on female appearance. The artist was in a car accident that physically affected her body, prompting artworks that deal with trauma, liminal experiences and the canons of feminine beauty. Meanwhile, Veronica Pot takes the theme in a different direction, with landscape shots that address our disconnect from the natural world.
For four days this November, the French capital is a destination for photography lovers to assemble in celebration of their medium. Paris Photo reflects an artform in the midst of huge transformation, reckoning with the emergence of artificial intelligence and digital technologies that have changed how we look at an image. Here, audiences are reassured that the medium is in good hands, spotlighting artists who are embracing the evolution of the medium, whilst honouring its rich and vibrant traditions.
Paris Photo is at Grand Palais, Paris from 13 – 16 November: parisphoto.com
Words: Emma Jacob
Image Credits:
1. Kumi Oguro, Candy Lambda print 35 x 35 cm – 2024, IBASHO, Kumi Oguro.
2. Joel Meyerowitz, Land, Provincetown – 1976, Howard Greenberg Gallery © Joel Meyerowitz, Courtesy of Howard Greenberg Gallery, New York.
3. Veronika Pot, Bue on green Archival pigment print on dibond, paint, ceramic shelf – 2022, Base-Alpha Gallery, Veronika Pot.
4. Veronika Pot, Home Archival pigment print on dibond, afrormosia frame – 2023, Base-Alpha Gallery, Veronika Pot.
5. Marta Zgierska, Votive Figure XIII, from the ‘Votive Figure’ series – 2019, FUNDACJA JEDNOSTKA, Marta Zgierska / Jednostka Gallery.
6. Melissa Schriek, Falling For You Again – 2024, Hama Gallery, Melissa Schriek.
7. Gilleam Trapenberg, Amelia – 2023, Galerie Ron Mandos. Courtesy Galerie Ron Mandos, Amsterdam.
