All about the image

Photographer Brian Grech attended Paris Photo at the Grand Palais in Paris last month. This is his view of the spectacular presentations at the ultimate international fair dedicated to the photographic medium.

THE INTERNATIONAL image-based art fair, an unmissable opportunity to discover and unveil today’s incredible, vast and varied photographic scene, included 199 exhibitors from 38 countries across five sectors, with a special focus on female photographers this year.

Paris Photo offers a complete overview of the medium’s development from its early days to the most current experimental expressions, brought together by 168 galleries and 31 editors representing 30 countries.

The leading rendez-vous for artists, influential institutions, private collectors and discerning amateurs, the 22nd edition of Paris Photo attracted almost 70,000 visitors this year, while more than 300 artists attended to sign books and take part in the rich programme of talks.

Divided into five sectors, these included the main gallery, books, films, Prismes, dedicated to serial works, large formats and installations, and Curiosa, the new thematic sector, focused this year on the body, gender and eroticism in photography, beyond the stereotyped male-centred vision. The deconstruction of the male gaze was challenged in artworks by avant-garde feminists.

The female gaze was also at the heart of another new initiative this year through Paris Photo’s collaboration with France’s Ministry of Culture to honour women artists through a specific itinerary – Elles x Paris Photo, curated by Fannie Escoulen and highlighting 100 works across the fair.

Escoulen traced the history of photography through a women’s perspective, selecting art works that date from the beginning of photography to 1970s feminists and to the discovery of a new promising generation.

Commenting on this year’s edition, director Florence Bourgeois and artistic director Christophe Wiesner said: “There was an energy and vitality this year that was quite remarkable. The galleries from across all the different sectors chose to bring their highest quality works to Paris Photo and presented these in spectacularly curated booths.

“The whole ecosystem of art dedicated to the photographic medium, including highly influential private and public collectors, artists and editors, came together and the encounter with the galleries’ outstanding presentations created an effervescent atmosphere from the very early hours of the fair, leading to robust sales throughout the five days.”