Elles X Paris Photo – ORLAN: “The body is always political”

18 November 2020   •  
Written by Fisheye Magazine
Elles X Paris Photo - ORLAN: "The body is always political"

As part of the digital track dedicated to women photographers Elles X Paris Photo, we are presenting, over the next 10 days, the ten artists interviewed on video. (Re)Discover ORLAN‘s artistic journey and commitments.

This year, to make up for the cancellation of the 2020 edition of Paris Photo at the Grand Palais due to health restrictions, the Ministry of Cultural Affairs presents, in association with Paris Photo and with the support of Women In Motion – a programme by Kering – a digital track dedicated to women photographers: Elles X Paris Photo.

Karolina Ziebinska-Lewandowska, curator of the Centre Pompidou’s Photography Center, took on its curation. To do so, she gathered around 40 women photographers – young, experienced, unknown, or whose careers have marked the history of photography. The website includes all artists from the circuit, 30 written interviews, as well as 10 filmed ones. It also presents infographics on the place of women in photography in France (based on studies carried out by the Ministry of Cultural Affairs).

Recognised for her work in France and abroad, ORLAN develops a versatile artwork by using several materials such as sculpture, photography, performance, video, 3D, video games, augmented reality or even surgery and biotechnologies. “I am ORLAN, among other things. And my name is written – all in capital letters – because I don’t want to be put in the ranks, I don’t want to be put in the line,” says the artist, who never stops questioning notions of determinism, male supremacy, religion, racism, or the body and its status. “I see it as the product of carnal forces and discourse. It is always political,” she says.

Read the interview on Elles X Paris Photo’s website, and go further with the filmed exchange.

 

 

© Lucas Hauchard and Anaïs Viand

© ORLAN© ORLAN

© ORLAN© ORLAN
© ORLAN© ORLAN

© ORLAN

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