Photo Days 2024

Originally trained in Fine Arts, Letizia Le Fur turned to photography to explore other aspects of image-making. Her bold colours and detail-oriented gaze make her pictures instantly recognisable. Showing at L’Inaperçu from November 13 to 24, her exhibit Le Beau Jeu (‘Beautiful Game’) is the result of winning last year’s Grand Prix Paris je t’aime x Photo Days. In this series, she focuses on the little games of everyday life, those moments of joy and community. As the artist says: “Adults play less than I thought, but I discovered a few diehards of the game.”

A Brazilian of Japanese descent, the photographer and artist explores themes such as migration, the search for identity, and the expression of sexuality in his work, using the Japanese technique of oshie (which involves cutting kimono fabrics to create patchwork paintings), blending pop culture references and childhood memories. Shinji Nagabe’s solo show at Ithaca, titled A terra é roxa mas também vermelha (‘The Earth is as Purple as it is Red’), is on view from November 6 to 30.

Often, abled people look at disabled individuals in a patronising way, assuming their lives are better simply because they are abled. While life can certainly be easier in many respects, that isn’t reason enough to feel a sense of superiority. Japanese photographer Mari Katayama challenges conventional notions of beauty and ableism through highly staged self-portraits. Showing her amputated legs in settings adorned with sculptures, crystals, shells, and life-size dolls, she creates a world of her own making. Her work is on display at Galerie Suzanne Tarasiève from November 2 to December 21.

In her second solo show at Galerie LeNeuf Sinibaldi, on view from November 6 to 23, Philippine Schaefer presents a sound installation alongside a new series of analogue images that explore the physicality and process of photography, questioning the obsolescence of the medium and its possibilities beyond digital formats. Titled Quetzalcoatl. Vie et Renaissance, a reference to the feathered serpent deity in Mayan mythology, Schaefer invokes the elements of nature (water, air, earth, and sun) to transmute our shadows.

Grief, rage, and hopelessness often become the driving forces behind powerful works of art. This is the case for Fatoumata Diabaté’s latest series, exhibited at Sorbonne Artgallery from November 2 to 27. Titled Nte logo saga ye (‘I am not pottery’ in the Bambara language), the series includes images she captured in Mali this past summer, specifically in Ogossagou, a village in the Dogon country that was destroyed in 2019, with its entire population burnt alive. Drawing parallels between pottery – an everyday object that needs to be fired to solidify – and the tragic deaths of the villagers, she addresses themes such as geopolitics, violence, and resistance.

Inspired by his travels to Japan and the country’s rich culture (encompassing philosophy, art, poetry, and history), Paul Cupido’s images possess an elusive quality that evokes the spirit of Japan. At Polka gallery, he will exhibit alongside Japanese photographer Miho Kajioka, creating an artistic dialogue centred around nature, starlit nights, twilight, and the moon. Their joint exhibition, Les Nuits étoilées (‘Starry Nights’), runs from November 8 to January 18, 2025, and reflects on themes of transience, beauty, magic, and melancholy.

Climate change affects everyone, albeit in different ways. On the Breton coast, the proliferation of green algae poses an environmental and health issue due to the toxic gas released during decomposition, which can become deadly in large quantities. Research photographer Alice Pallot brings attention to this pressing problem in her exhibition at Leica Gallery, created in collaboration with the European Space Agency (ESA).

Galerie 20 Thorigny presents a solo show (running until November 10) by Iranian photographer Morteza Niknahad, featuring two distinct series: Big Fish and Beyond the Sea. In the former, he reflects on his mother’s health condition, caused by a rare disease following an intensely vivid nightmare over twenty years ago — a nightmare that continues to haunt her. The latter is a metaphor for his life: “Or a hand-to-hand combat with those I have crossed paths with. (…) A reality that pins us to the ground, while our desires only think of flying away, escaping the seas and lands that confine us. The sea never drives away dreams; it is their cradle and point of convergence,” as he says.

Born in 1953 in Quixadá, Brazil, Luzia Simons boasts a long and distinguished career. Her work is marked by a deep appreciation for plants — their natural beauty, cultural significance, and their role in human history. In her second solo exhibition at Galerie Arcturus, titled Le Jardin des Délices (‘Garden of Delights’), on view until November 11, Simons presents her scannogram technique, capturing each composition in intricate detail.

For over four decades, Sophie Ristelhueber has documented the lasting marks of war on urban and natural landscapes. From Iraq to Lebanon and other war-torn regions, she has captured some of the most harrowing scenes. Now, Galerie Poggi showcases her solo exhibition What the Fuck!, a powerful outcry from the artist. This iconoclastic gesture questions the place of art in a world engulfed by conflict, undermining the very concept of the art exhibition itself.