Elsa Leydier 1988
Lives in France / Brazil. Works in France / Brazil.
Represented by:
Galerie Caroline O'Breen
Elsa Leydier (1988, France) lives and works in Rio de Janeiro (Brazil). She won the Prix Ruinart Paris Photo 2019 and is the winner of the Dior Prize for Photography for Young Talents 2019. In Brazil, where she moved in 2015, the young artist diverts the political charge of iconic images.
In Plátanos con Platino and Braços verdes e olhos Cheios de Asas, Leydier modifies the colors of her photographs made in Latin America to produce a "pop" and luminous image, bringing to its surface the richness of biodiversity. By an aesthetic that borrows its codes to luxury, Elsa Leydier revalorizes a territory and inhabitants delivered to land speculation. She joins the wonder of the poet Garcia Marquez who wrote in 1954 when he discovered this region: "If someone had the idea to sow a banana tree, the fruits would have grown loaded with platinum nuggets."
With Les Echappées, Elsa Leydier rewrites, through poetry, socio-economic maps. On these cards, of which it erases the numerical mentions and the legend, it retains only tasks red blood, the imprint of evils recorded (a reference to modern slavery, and the assassinations of Indians ...).
Her most recent project, Brazil: System error (Elenão), is executed in the form of lightboxes in wood and glass imitating a mobile phone. They are silent witnesses of the presidential campaign 2.0 led by Jair Bolsonaro, current president of Brazil, in the din of social networks. At the end of 2018, during the presidential campaign, Leydier typed the word "Brazil" into a search engine. She got a series of "clichés" images of untroubled Brazil. By inserting the text of the invectives pronounced by the candidate Bolsonaro in the text code of each of the images, the artist modifies the digital DNA of the "beautiful image" and creates a visual bug (glitching technique). But is it really the artist who damages the image of Brazil?
In Plátanos con Platino and Braços verdes e olhos Cheios de Asas, Leydier modifies the colors of her photographs made in Latin America to produce a "pop" and luminous image, bringing to its surface the richness of biodiversity. By an aesthetic that borrows its codes to luxury, Elsa Leydier revalorizes a territory and inhabitants delivered to land speculation. She joins the wonder of the poet Garcia Marquez who wrote in 1954 when he discovered this region: "If someone had the idea to sow a banana tree, the fruits would have grown loaded with platinum nuggets."
With Les Echappées, Elsa Leydier rewrites, through poetry, socio-economic maps. On these cards, of which it erases the numerical mentions and the legend, it retains only tasks red blood, the imprint of evils recorded (a reference to modern slavery, and the assassinations of Indians ...).
Her most recent project, Brazil: System error (Elenão), is executed in the form of lightboxes in wood and glass imitating a mobile phone. They are silent witnesses of the presidential campaign 2.0 led by Jair Bolsonaro, current president of Brazil, in the din of social networks. At the end of 2018, during the presidential campaign, Leydier typed the word "Brazil" into a search engine. She got a series of "clichés" images of untroubled Brazil. By inserting the text of the invectives pronounced by the candidate Bolsonaro in the text code of each of the images, the artist modifies the digital DNA of the "beautiful image" and creates a visual bug (glitching technique). But is it really the artist who damages the image of Brazil?
Artworks
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CV
Artworks by Elsa Leydier
Media
Elsa Leydier — The Disobediences | Galerie Caroline O'Breen, 2023
About
She reclaims
« In order to unload our retinas from the stereotyped images they support, the artist flays the advertisements and thinks of her works as spaces conducive to the blossoming of dissident and plural voices. For this, she borrows their methodologies from ecofeminist activists. She snatches from the industrialists the images they have confiscated and thus invalidates their discourse. She reclaims. »
Camille Bardin, curator and art critic
The Disobediences
Elsa Leydier plays with our preconceived ideas by challenging prevailing photos. She brings to light this desire in a symbolically charged and graphic project, Les Désobéissances, which combines several bodies of work inspired by the concept of ecofeminism (a movement in envi- ronmental ethics focusing on the questions of gender relations and dominance, ed.). “Les Désobéissances takes on the form and appearance of permaculture. Thus, the pieces that make up the whole body of work are not organised as “series”. The project’s exhibition is a sort of ecosystem, structured around installations and artworks coming from five projects: Flora Brasiliensis 3.0, Les Marques, Infinita, Toujours la liberté, LUTOA”, she explains. Switching lenses, weaving metaphors through colours and negatives, deconstructing our gaze to build new though processes... From Elsa Leydier’s work comes a longing for change, a fierce desire to move on.
Fisheye
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Elsa Leydier graduated from École Nationale Supérieure de la Photographie in Arles in 2015 and moved to Brazil right after. Her work was showcased in Colombia, the US, the Netherlands, Portugal, Norway, France and Japan. Recent exhibitions include Jeu de Paume outside-the-walls (Le Cellier, France), Festival Encontros da Imagem (Portugal), Festival Photo Climat (France), Rencontres Internationales de la Photographie – Fondation Manuel Rivera Ortiz (France), Atelier Noua (Norway), Hosoo gallery (Japan), among others. Leydier has been recognized as a finalist for several awards, including FOAM Talents (2020 and 2019), Prix Fisheye (2023), Dahinden – Photo Climat Award (2021), French national Photographic commission Image 3.0 (2020), the Mentorat Des Filles de la Photo (2020-2021).
CV
Elsa Leydier (b. 1988, France)
Born in 1988, FR | Lives and works between Paris, FR and Itacaré, BR
Education
École Nationale Supérieure de la Photographie | Arles (FR) | 2012 - 2015
Exhibitions
2022
Heatwave | with Prix de la Maison Ruinart | Okura Hotel | Amsterdam (NL)
IMAGE 3.0 | National photographic commission | with CNAP, Ministry of Culture and Musée du Jeu de Paume | Le Cellier | Jeu de Paume outside-the-walls | Reims (FR)
2021
Transatlántica | Emergentes Award 2020 | Festival Encontros da Imagem | Maus Hábitos | Porto (PT)
Transatlántica | Recontres Photographiques de Lorient | Galerie du Faouëdic | Lorient (FR)
Homéostasie | Festival Photo Climat | Maison des Arts de Créteil | Créteil (FR)
Prix Dahinden / Photo Climat | Festival Photo Climat | Quais de Seine | Paris (FR)
Les Expérimentales | with Les Filles de la Photo and Photo Saint Germain | Espace des Femmes | Paris (FR)
System Echoes | curated by Florent Basiletti | Recontres Internationales de la Photographie | Foundation Manuel Rivera Ortiz | Arles (FR)
100% Sorties d’écoles | Grande Halle de La Villette | Paris (FR)
Pictures For Purpose | Atelier Noua | Bodø (NO)
UNSEEN Photo Fair | with Galerie Caroline O’Breen | Amsterdam (NL)
2020
Heatwave | with Prix de la Maison Ruinart | Art Genève | Geneva (CH)
Heatwave | with Prix de la Maison Ruinart | ARCOmadrid | Madrid (ES)
Transatlántica | Galerie Caroline O’Breen | Amsterdam (NL)
Les Mauvaises Herbes Résisteront | Sur un commissariat d’Alice Santiago | CACN Centre d’Art – Espace Villary | Nîmes (FR)
Heatwave | with Prix de la Maison Ruinart | Kyotographie | Kyoto (JP)
Genesis | Encontros da Imagem Festival | Braga (PT)
Art Paris 2020 | Intervalle Gallery | Paris (FR)
Paris Experiences Photo X RATP | Paris metro stations | Paris (FR)
100% | Grande Halle | La Villette | Paris (FR)
Cell Signals | with Answers Without Words | SF CameraWork | San Francisco (US)
2019
Transatlántica | Intervalle Gallery | Paris (FR)
Transatlántica | with Résonance of Biennale d’Art Contemporain de Lyon | Poltred | Lyon (FR)
Paris Photo Fair 2019 | with Galerie Intervalle | Grand Palais | Paris (FR)
Heatwave | with Prix de la Maison Ruinart / Paris Photo 2019 | Grand Palais | Paris (FR)
Dior – The Art of Color | Kosmo | Neuilly (FR)
Dior – The Art of Color | Rencontres Internationales de la Photographie d’Arles | Arles (FR)
What’s Going on in Brazil? | Fondation Manuel Rivera Ortiz |Rencontres Internationales de la Photographie d’Arles | Arles (FR)
Lucie Foundation Group Show | Month of Photo LA | Arena 1 Gallery | Santa Monica (US)
Wall | with The Smell of Dus | FotoHaus | Rencontres Internationales de la Photographie d’Arles | Arles (FR)
Fotografia, Amor e Luta | with Revista Old | Salvador, Brasília, Rio de Janeiro, São Paulo, Curitiba & Porto Alegre (BR)
Retour de résidence | Hameau des Baux | Baux de Provence (FR)
2018
Like a Thunderstorm Over a Landscape | ATA | San Francisco (US)
Atlas of Forms | Soft Power Palace Festival | Stuttgart (DE)
Photographie émergente France / Brésil | Paris Photo | Galerie Collection Privée | Paris (FR)
Unseen Photo Fair | with galerie Intervalle | Amsterdam (NL)
Answers Without Words | Cascade Paragon Gallery / Columbia River Correctional Institution | Portland (US)
Nature Within | Galerie Prints | London (UK)
Novos Protagonismos | Valongo Festival Internacional da Imagem | Santos (BR)
Du bonheur et rien d’autre | L’Atelier du Midi | Rencontres Internationales de la Photographie d’Arles | Arles (FR)
#FORATEMER #POESIAFICA | curated by The Smell of Dust | FotoHaus | Les Rencontres Internationales de la Photographie d’Arles | Arles (FR) / Berlin (DE)
Voyage à Nantes | with Festival Circulation(s) | Nantes (FR)
Lucie Foundation Group Show | Month of Photo LA | Los Angeles (US)
Territorios Imaginarios | PHotoEspaña | Madrid (ES)
Festival Circulation(s) | Le Cent-Quatre | Paris (FR)
The Earth Issue | The House of St Barnabas | London (UK)
2017
Plátanos con platino | Alliance Française de Bogotá | Bogotá (CO)
Foto Féminas Screening | Just Another Photo Festival | Kolkata (IN)
Braços Verdes e Olhos Cheios de Asas | At the invitation of Revista OLD | Festival Valongo | Santos (BR)
#FORATEMER #POESIAFICA | screening curated by The Smell of Dust | São Paulo (BR)
#FORATEMER #POESIAFICA | Screening curated by The Smell of Dust | FotoHaus | Rencontres Internationales de la Photographie d’Arles | Arles (FR)
2016
Fuori Serranda | LO.FT | Lecce (IT)
Jardim Suspenso | Morro da Babilônia | Rio de Janeiro (BR)
Réserves | L’Atelier du Midi | Arles (FR)
Interstices | Festival MAP Toulouse | Toulouse (FR)
Échange de vues / Conversations Photographiques d’Olympus | Galerie Les Filles du Calvaire | Paris (FR)
2015
Histoires parallèles | FRAC PACA | Marseille (FR)
Interstices | ENSP 2015 Graduate Students Exhibition | Galerie Agnès b. | Paris (FR)
Olympus engage une Conversation Photographique | Photographic Conversation with Paolo Woods, | Rencontres Internationales de la Photographie d’Arles | Couvent Saint Césaire | Arles (FR)
Work In Progress | Église Saint Julien | Arles (FR)
Vigilance | Voies Off Screening | Palais de l’Archevêché | Arles (FR)
OFF the Wall ON the Walls | Manuel Rivera Ortiz Foundation | Arles (FR)
Échappées Belles | Palais de l’Archevêché | Arles (FR)
La Double vie des images | Galerie Le Réverbère | Lyon (FR)
2014
J’ai sondé les actes et les rêves | L’Atelier du Midi | Arles (FR)
A Process | curated by Der Greif | Höhmannhaus Gallery | Augsburg (DE)
WHY? Part 1 | a collaboration with Ecole Normale Supérieure de Lyon | Aréna Gallery | Arles (FR)
Alirandu | L’Atelier du Midi | Arles (FR)
2013
Décartographie | Musée de la Camargue | Salin de Giraud (FR)
Décartographie | with Marseille Provence 2013 | Temple d’Arles | Arles (FR)
La Nuit je mens | Hôtel Arlatan | Arles (FR)
Artist Residencies
2020 Hangar | Barcelona (ES)
2019 Ruinart | Reims (FR)
2018 Hameau des Baux | Arles (FR)
2017 Alliance Française de Bogotá | Bogotá (CO)
2016 Jardim Suspendo | Babilônia | Rio de Janeiro (BR)
2016 EAVerão | Parque Lage | Rio de Janeiro (BR)
Awards | Prizes
2021 Dahinden - Photo Climat Award | Finalist
2020-2021 Mentorat Les Filles de la Photo | Laureate
2020 Photographic commission CNAP / Jeu de Paume | Laureate
2020 FOAM Talents | Finalist
2020 Encontros da Imagem Discovery Awards | Finalist
2019 Prix Maison Ruinart / Paris Photo | Laureate
2019 Dior Emerging Talent Award | Laureate
2019 FOAM Talent | Finalist
2018 Prix HSBC pour la Photographie | Finalist
2013 Concours Olympus/ENSP | 1st Prize
Books
2015
Esgotados | Edition Le Magasin de Jouets
2014
Alirandu | self-published
Publications | Features
2020
Connaissance des Art #789
2019
FOAM Magazine Talent Issue #55, Dior The Art of Color, Fisheye Magazine
2018
Unseen Magazine, Famous Aspect #5
2017
American B | Paripé Books, Captured 52 Journal #2, Gup Magazine #55, Cercle Magazine #5, Archive Collective The Earth Issue
2016
Revista Amarello, Scenario Mag
2015
Échanges de vues | Éditions Filigranes, Catalogue des Rencontres Internationales de la Photographie d’Arles 2015 | Actes Sud, Échappées Belles | Le catalogue des diplômés de l’École Nationale Supérieure de la Photographie 2015 | Éditions Diaphane, Off The Wall #7, ARCHIVOzine #1, Causette #54
2014
Espaces Latinos #281, Le Tigre #42
Online
Photo/Foto Mag, Fisheye Magazine, Feature Shoot, Aye Mag, Wallpaper*, Ain’t Bad Magazine, Hi, Waterfall, Kaltblut, Photogrvphy, Panorama Journal, Purple, Paper Journal, Impressa Photo, Lenscratch, Light Leaked, Casimir, Urbanautica, Artwort, Photo Archivo, Humble Arts Foundation, Fotografia Magazine, Yet Magazine, Phases Mag, L’Oeil de la Photographie, HBA Magazine, France Culture
Born in 1988, FR | Lives and works between Paris, FR and Itacaré, BR
Education
École Nationale Supérieure de la Photographie | Arles (FR) | 2012 - 2015
Exhibitions
2022
Heatwave | with Prix de la Maison Ruinart | Okura Hotel | Amsterdam (NL)
IMAGE 3.0 | National photographic commission | with CNAP, Ministry of Culture and Musée du Jeu de Paume | Le Cellier | Jeu de Paume outside-the-walls | Reims (FR)
2021
Transatlántica | Emergentes Award 2020 | Festival Encontros da Imagem | Maus Hábitos | Porto (PT)
Transatlántica | Recontres Photographiques de Lorient | Galerie du Faouëdic | Lorient (FR)
Homéostasie | Festival Photo Climat | Maison des Arts de Créteil | Créteil (FR)
Prix Dahinden / Photo Climat | Festival Photo Climat | Quais de Seine | Paris (FR)
Les Expérimentales | with Les Filles de la Photo and Photo Saint Germain | Espace des Femmes | Paris (FR)
System Echoes | curated by Florent Basiletti | Recontres Internationales de la Photographie | Foundation Manuel Rivera Ortiz | Arles (FR)
100% Sorties d’écoles | Grande Halle de La Villette | Paris (FR)
Pictures For Purpose | Atelier Noua | Bodø (NO)
UNSEEN Photo Fair | with Galerie Caroline O’Breen | Amsterdam (NL)
2020
Heatwave | with Prix de la Maison Ruinart | Art Genève | Geneva (CH)
Heatwave | with Prix de la Maison Ruinart | ARCOmadrid | Madrid (ES)
Transatlántica | Galerie Caroline O’Breen | Amsterdam (NL)
Les Mauvaises Herbes Résisteront | Sur un commissariat d’Alice Santiago | CACN Centre d’Art – Espace Villary | Nîmes (FR)
Heatwave | with Prix de la Maison Ruinart | Kyotographie | Kyoto (JP)
Genesis | Encontros da Imagem Festival | Braga (PT)
Art Paris 2020 | Intervalle Gallery | Paris (FR)
Paris Experiences Photo X RATP | Paris metro stations | Paris (FR)
100% | Grande Halle | La Villette | Paris (FR)
Cell Signals | with Answers Without Words | SF CameraWork | San Francisco (US)
2019
Transatlántica | Intervalle Gallery | Paris (FR)
Transatlántica | with Résonance of Biennale d’Art Contemporain de Lyon | Poltred | Lyon (FR)
Paris Photo Fair 2019 | with Galerie Intervalle | Grand Palais | Paris (FR)
Heatwave | with Prix de la Maison Ruinart / Paris Photo 2019 | Grand Palais | Paris (FR)
Dior – The Art of Color | Kosmo | Neuilly (FR)
Dior – The Art of Color | Rencontres Internationales de la Photographie d’Arles | Arles (FR)
What’s Going on in Brazil? | Fondation Manuel Rivera Ortiz |Rencontres Internationales de la Photographie d’Arles | Arles (FR)
Lucie Foundation Group Show | Month of Photo LA | Arena 1 Gallery | Santa Monica (US)
Wall | with The Smell of Dus | FotoHaus | Rencontres Internationales de la Photographie d’Arles | Arles (FR)
Fotografia, Amor e Luta | with Revista Old | Salvador, Brasília, Rio de Janeiro, São Paulo, Curitiba & Porto Alegre (BR)
Retour de résidence | Hameau des Baux | Baux de Provence (FR)
2018
Like a Thunderstorm Over a Landscape | ATA | San Francisco (US)
Atlas of Forms | Soft Power Palace Festival | Stuttgart (DE)
Photographie émergente France / Brésil | Paris Photo | Galerie Collection Privée | Paris (FR)
Unseen Photo Fair | with galerie Intervalle | Amsterdam (NL)
Answers Without Words | Cascade Paragon Gallery / Columbia River Correctional Institution | Portland (US)
Nature Within | Galerie Prints | London (UK)
Novos Protagonismos | Valongo Festival Internacional da Imagem | Santos (BR)
Du bonheur et rien d’autre | L’Atelier du Midi | Rencontres Internationales de la Photographie d’Arles | Arles (FR)
#FORATEMER #POESIAFICA | curated by The Smell of Dust | FotoHaus | Les Rencontres Internationales de la Photographie d’Arles | Arles (FR) / Berlin (DE)
Voyage à Nantes | with Festival Circulation(s) | Nantes (FR)
Lucie Foundation Group Show | Month of Photo LA | Los Angeles (US)
Territorios Imaginarios | PHotoEspaña | Madrid (ES)
Festival Circulation(s) | Le Cent-Quatre | Paris (FR)
The Earth Issue | The House of St Barnabas | London (UK)
2017
Plátanos con platino | Alliance Française de Bogotá | Bogotá (CO)
Foto Féminas Screening | Just Another Photo Festival | Kolkata (IN)
Braços Verdes e Olhos Cheios de Asas | At the invitation of Revista OLD | Festival Valongo | Santos (BR)
#FORATEMER #POESIAFICA | screening curated by The Smell of Dust | São Paulo (BR)
#FORATEMER #POESIAFICA | Screening curated by The Smell of Dust | FotoHaus | Rencontres Internationales de la Photographie d’Arles | Arles (FR)
2016
Fuori Serranda | LO.FT | Lecce (IT)
Jardim Suspenso | Morro da Babilônia | Rio de Janeiro (BR)
Réserves | L’Atelier du Midi | Arles (FR)
Interstices | Festival MAP Toulouse | Toulouse (FR)
Échange de vues / Conversations Photographiques d’Olympus | Galerie Les Filles du Calvaire | Paris (FR)
2015
Histoires parallèles | FRAC PACA | Marseille (FR)
Interstices | ENSP 2015 Graduate Students Exhibition | Galerie Agnès b. | Paris (FR)
Olympus engage une Conversation Photographique | Photographic Conversation with Paolo Woods, | Rencontres Internationales de la Photographie d’Arles | Couvent Saint Césaire | Arles (FR)
Work In Progress | Église Saint Julien | Arles (FR)
Vigilance | Voies Off Screening | Palais de l’Archevêché | Arles (FR)
OFF the Wall ON the Walls | Manuel Rivera Ortiz Foundation | Arles (FR)
Échappées Belles | Palais de l’Archevêché | Arles (FR)
La Double vie des images | Galerie Le Réverbère | Lyon (FR)
2014
J’ai sondé les actes et les rêves | L’Atelier du Midi | Arles (FR)
A Process | curated by Der Greif | Höhmannhaus Gallery | Augsburg (DE)
WHY? Part 1 | a collaboration with Ecole Normale Supérieure de Lyon | Aréna Gallery | Arles (FR)
Alirandu | L’Atelier du Midi | Arles (FR)
2013
Décartographie | Musée de la Camargue | Salin de Giraud (FR)
Décartographie | with Marseille Provence 2013 | Temple d’Arles | Arles (FR)
La Nuit je mens | Hôtel Arlatan | Arles (FR)
Artist Residencies
2020 Hangar | Barcelona (ES)
2019 Ruinart | Reims (FR)
2018 Hameau des Baux | Arles (FR)
2017 Alliance Française de Bogotá | Bogotá (CO)
2016 Jardim Suspendo | Babilônia | Rio de Janeiro (BR)
2016 EAVerão | Parque Lage | Rio de Janeiro (BR)
Awards | Prizes
2021 Dahinden - Photo Climat Award | Finalist
2020-2021 Mentorat Les Filles de la Photo | Laureate
2020 Photographic commission CNAP / Jeu de Paume | Laureate
2020 FOAM Talents | Finalist
2020 Encontros da Imagem Discovery Awards | Finalist
2019 Prix Maison Ruinart / Paris Photo | Laureate
2019 Dior Emerging Talent Award | Laureate
2019 FOAM Talent | Finalist
2018 Prix HSBC pour la Photographie | Finalist
2013 Concours Olympus/ENSP | 1st Prize
Books
2015
Esgotados | Edition Le Magasin de Jouets
2014
Alirandu | self-published
Publications | Features
2020
Connaissance des Art #789
2019
FOAM Magazine Talent Issue #55, Dior The Art of Color, Fisheye Magazine
2018
Unseen Magazine, Famous Aspect #5
2017
American B | Paripé Books, Captured 52 Journal #2, Gup Magazine #55, Cercle Magazine #5, Archive Collective The Earth Issue
2016
Revista Amarello, Scenario Mag
2015
Échanges de vues | Éditions Filigranes, Catalogue des Rencontres Internationales de la Photographie d’Arles 2015 | Actes Sud, Échappées Belles | Le catalogue des diplômés de l’École Nationale Supérieure de la Photographie 2015 | Éditions Diaphane, Off The Wall #7, ARCHIVOzine #1, Causette #54
2014
Espaces Latinos #281, Le Tigre #42
Online
Photo/Foto Mag, Fisheye Magazine, Feature Shoot, Aye Mag, Wallpaper*, Ain’t Bad Magazine, Hi, Waterfall, Kaltblut, Photogrvphy, Panorama Journal, Purple, Paper Journal, Impressa Photo, Lenscratch, Light Leaked, Casimir, Urbanautica, Artwort, Photo Archivo, Humble Arts Foundation, Fotografia Magazine, Yet Magazine, Phases Mag, L’Oeil de la Photographie, HBA Magazine, France Culture
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