GUP Highlights from Paris Photo 2024
GUP Magazine Highlights from Paris Photo 2024
CREDITS
GUP Author
Linda Zhengová
This year’s Paris Photo, now in its 27th edition, returned to the Grand Palais and transformed it into a pulsating photography bee hive. The fair celebrated both the classics and the emerging artists through an ambitious and eclectic program. With curated sections like the new “Voices,” landmark tributes to Surrealism and Robert Frank, and large-scale installations, the fair is as much a celebration of the medium’s legacy as it is a showcase of innovation. There is so much to take in but don’t worry, we have your back with a small selection of our GUP highlights.
Exploring ‘Skinship’ with Takako Kido – IBASHO Gallery, Antwerp
This year, IBASHO Gallery, among other artists presented Takako Kido who delves into the Japanese concept of skinship, a term capturing the skin-to-skin, heart-to-heart connections that form between close family members. Takako Kido’s intimate series reflects on these tactile bonds, linking the notion to a broader understanding of familial intimacy and nurturing in Japanese culture. Through this nuanced exploration, Kido presents skinship as both a personal and cultural anchor, showcasing how it evolves across generations. At once deeply personal and universally resonant, the series illuminates the intimacy that exists beneath the surface of everyday interactions.
In her photographs, Kido also reflects on the cultural contrasts she has experienced, particularly how skinship was misunderstood during her time in the U.S., where intimate family images were met with confusion and judgment. Through this, she reclaims and redefines her Japanese identity, examining how traditional values persist in a rapidly modernizing world. Her series is both an affirmation of these enduring cultural practices and a quiet protest against the hypersexualization and shame often imposed on family intimacy in other cultural contexts.
Camille Vivier’s ‘Ai No Corrida’ – Galerie Madé, Paris
At Galerie Madé, Camille Vivier presents a selection of works that blur the lines between body and object, life and stillness. Titled Ai No Corrida, the series draws inspiration from both the Japanese film In the Realm of the Senses and the song by Chaz Jankel, later covered by Quincy Jones, bringing a sense of raw sensuality and introspection. The centerpiece of this exhibition is Vivier’s Monument series, in which she captures anthropomorphic candles used in rituals like macumba and santería. These wax figures, shown in various stages of burning, emit an intimate and mysterious glow that emphasizes both their fragility and their power. Vivier’s use of light and shadow invites the viewer to reflect on the passage of time, transience, and the haunting beauty of vanishing moments.
The nuanced arrangement of her work combines silver prints, pigment inkjet prints, and polaroids on Kozo and baryta paper, presented in frames made of lead, aluminum, and stained wood. This eclectic display transforms the gallery into a space where objects and bodies converse, inviting the viewer to linger on the fragile boundary between the animate and the inanimate.
Lahem’s ‘Modernity’s Fracture’ – Three Shadows +3, Caochangdi
Chinese artist Lahem’s Modernity’s Fracture: The Odyssey of Returning Hometown is a haunting journey through his birthplace, Sibei, a small village in Jiangxi, where centuries-old rituals and ancestral worship are still practiced. Lahem’s powerful images capture the soul of a place caught between tradition and modernity, where the cycles of life play out in the quiet violence of memory and nature’s indifference. His work provides a rare glimpse into the spiritual rituals of rural China, highlighting the connection to land and the struggles of identity against the encroaching influence of contemporary life.
Miguel Rio Branco’s ‘Dark Realities’ – Paci Contemporary Gallery, Brescia
A master of visual intensity, Miguel Rio Branco returns with a solo show that delves into the raw energy of Salvador da Bahia. Known for his compelling use of color and shadow, Rio Branco’s work examines themes of sensuality, mortality, and the scars of human experience. His photographs capture life’s darker edges without purifying or softening them, embracing the chaotic beauty found in unfiltered moments. Through this collection, he invites us into Brazil’s visceral landscapes.
Tyler Mitchell and Richard Avedon’s Cross-Generational Dialogue – Gagosian, New York
Gagosian presents Avedon & Me, a striking curation by Tyler Mitchell that brings his vibrant portrayals of Black culture into conversation with the iconic works of Richard Avedon. By juxtaposing his own contemporary images with Avedon’s photographs from the 1960s, Mitchell reflects on how Avedon’s explorations of fashion and identity have influenced his practice. This homage to Avedon’s legacy and inspiration from James Baldwin’s Nothing Personal reveals the threads of shared experience and mutual passion that bind these two artists, creating a layered reflection on race, beauty, and cultural identity.
Juan Brenner’s Return to Roots – TOBE Gallery, Budapest
In his series Genesis, Guatemalan photographer Juan Brenner turns his lens toward the Highlands of his homeland, capturing a community in the midst of change. This extensive study of place and belonging weaves his perspective as both an insider and an outsider, exploring the shifting cultural landscape of the region. Brenner’s work captures not just the people but the vitality of the land itself, speaking to a deeply personal journey of rediscovery and homage to a culture that remains resilient despite historical challenges.
Voices Sector: Libuše Jarcovjáková’s ‘Rooms and Beds’ – Fotograf Contemporary, Prague
Curated by Sonia Voss, the new Voices section brings to light the underrepresented stories in photography, with a particular focus on emerging themes and perspectives. Among these is the work of Czech photographer Libuše Jarcovjáková, whose raw and intimate style documents her life from the 1980s to the present. Through her autobiographical lens, Jarcovjáková reveals the honest reality of human vulnerability, exploring themes of isolation, resilience, and the quiet complexities of personal relationships. Her series Rooms and Beds, which captures the transient spaces she has inhabited over the years, serves as a portrait of impermanence, while selections from her celebrated photo books highlight her reflections on identity and survival within shifting sociopolitical landscapes.
With each edition, Paris Photo reaffirms its role as a landmark event in the photographic calendar. The 2024 fair not only honors the past but celebrates the inventive spirit driving the medium forward, making it a must-visit for anyone passionate about photography. Let’s meet there again next year!
