Photography Exhibition Exhibition of the three laureates of the Prix Levallois 2019

The exhibition presented at the Galerie de L’Escale in Levallois from 4 October to 23 November 2019 presents the work of the three award-winning photographers: Sara Imloul (France), Levallois Prize, Karina Bikbulatova (Russia) Special Mention and Zishaan A Latif (India), Public Prize.

Rip Hopkins, sponsor of the 2019 edition, has announced the names of the laureates on July, 4th 2019 at the Ecole Nationale Supérieure de la Photographie of Arles, in attendance of the members of the jury and the nominees. With one voice, the jury highlighted the great quality of the 15 nominees. In a warm and studious atmosphere, Stéphane Decreps, Deputy Mayor for cultural affairs, ville de Levallois; Rip Hopkins, photographer and sponsor of the Prix Levallois 2019; Marion Hislen, Delegated to the photography, Minister of Culture, Department of Artistic Creation; Anne Lacoste, Director of the Institut pour la photographie; Caroline Stein, Head of sponsorship, curator of the Banque Neuflize OBC Collection, selected the Prix Levallois and the Special Mention on June 3rd.The online vote for the Audience award, giving voice to all photography lovers, closed on June 12^th on the online platform www.prix-levallois.fr

Sara Imloul, Prix Levallois, « Passages », France:

According to Edmond Jabès: “There is a memory that is older than recollections (…) : a memory that can be reawakened by a gesture, a word, a cry, a moment of pain or joy, an image, an event. A memory of all times that sleeps within us and that lies at the heart of creation.” With my large format camera, I set out an excavation so that I could assemble an intimate reliquary. A sort of internal archaeology. Where the borders get twisted and what is beyond breaks in, to create the framework for a world between two waters. I dived into a subterranean world, into a dream buried where roots and dreamt memories merge. It is about frontiers and perceptions. I make symbolic objects and body fragments appear, in order to recreate, in the studio’s crypt, fragments of rituals, a bestiary, and an inventory of vestiges. Mental images.Passages means also taking a picture to move from a mental image to an object image. Through this action, it is leaving behind a trace, a tangible evidence of our passages and our crossings from one world to another: de l’Ombre aux Images.

Karine Bikbulatova, Special Mention, « The Two Parallel », Russia:

This black-and-white series of photos is about two sisters abandoned by their father, a reunion which can be no question. The most important thing is that they don’t know they are related. They meet once a year in a small village, — communicate, play, weave braids to each other, but don’t know that they are sisters. Gulshat lives in a poor family, in a small village. Alina lives in the city, studies in a prestigious school, and does ballet. Two lives that run parallel and that should not intersect never, according to the lV postulate of Euclid. And yet this happens, as in the hyperbolic geometry of Nikolai Ivanovich Lobačevskij. In a Russian village two parallel lines meet once a year.

Zishaan A.Latif, Audience Award, Withering, India:

Withering is an endeavor to document the ‘drowning state of existence’ of the largest river island in the world: Majuli in Assam, India. It is a catastrophe caused by the aggressive Brahmaputra River, subsequently induced by men’s activity, negligence and irresponsibility. The aim is to reflect on the larger consequences of climate change and the aftermath of this displacement. A segue of this project is the documentation of a disappearing, mystical and culturally rich environment; an organic community that presents itself as an alarming example of the issue of sustainability that the world must take cognizance of. Majuli is engulfed in its silence, the silence of loneliness and the resilience embedded within it; a forgotten landmass, with a questionable and crumbling future. As the river breaks, bonds, and binds again and again, so do the islanders

Finissage: A guided tour by Jacques Damez, curator of the exhibition will take place on Saturday, November 23.

Practical information

Galerie de l’Escale
25 rue de la Gare Levallois
01 47 15 74 56
Monday – Saturday 9AM-7PM
M°ligne 3 / Station: Anatole France Bus 174 / Station: Collange SNCF / Station Clichy-Levallois, from Gare Saint-Lazare, two stations