press pack fran%oise huguier

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While the “Maison Européenne de la
Photographie” celebrates Françoise Huguier
through an exceptional retrospective on
display until August 31st, Polka Galerie presents “Étranges Beautés”, a mix of vintages
and contemporary prints from the French
photographer.
Françoise Huguier’s universe is dense.
Inspired by her international travels, she is
particularly moved by the beauty that resides
in strangeness. A cinema lover, she draws
from Andreï Tarkovski, Jim Jarmusch or the
Indian filmmaker, Satyajit Ray, whom she met
several time in Calcutta.
Beyond reporting from abroad and producing
renowned photographic journals, she also
enjoys shooting fashion. When covering the
catwalk, she is in constant movement adding
energy to her stills. Whilst producing editorials, she often finds models in the streets
and photographs them in odd settings such
as a sugarcane field, on a cemetery road or
in a squat.
Thanks to this unique perspective, Françoise
Huguier reinvigorates the field. She develops
new ways to celebrate elegance, the human
form and women.
Porno chic, Hôtel Chalgrin, Paris, 1999 (for DS Magazine)
© Françoise Huguier / courtesy Polka Galerie
Throughout her production, she creates “moments” that are then used to build a colorful and sometimes
disturbing world; one in which barbarism and sophistication cohabit nicely; one that lies at the intersection
of reality, personal history and the tales she wants to tell. To this day, she continues to expand and refine it.
“Étranges Beautés” brings Françoise Huguier singular planet to light. The exhibition is an invitation to cast a
new gaze on her impressive work.
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Cour de Venise
12, rue Saint-Gilles, Paris IIIe
T +33 1 76 21 41 30
F +33 1 76 50 21 83
[email protected]
www.polkagalerie.com
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Cambodia, Japan, India, Africa, Russia… Françoise Huguier is a globetrotter who has dubbed herself
a “documentary photographer”. In parallel to fashion editorials produced in the eighties and nineties – which became the book Sublimes in 1999 –, she began to travel the world, producing black
and white photographs in Japan, and reporting on the monsoon in India for French and Indian
ministries.
The African continent inspired her to put together her first book Sur les traces de l’Afrique fantôme
(Maeght, 1990), for which she received the Villa Médicis Hors-les-Murs Award. She was nominated
a second time in 1993 for En Route pour Behring (Maeght, 1993), a unique and solitary travel journal through Siberia. This work, shown in many festivals and galleries, was awarded a World Press
Photo. In 1998, The Maison Européenne de la Photographie exhibited A L’extrême, photographs
from her stays in the KwaZulu-Natal province of South Africa. She then produced Secrètes (Actes
Sud, 1996), in which she enters the inner circles of African Women.
Beginning in 2000, she decided to spend several years in St-Petersburg to document its community
apartments.
In 2004, Françoise Huguier reconnected with her past: as a child, she was a prisoner of the Viet
Minhs in Cambodia. She told her story in J’avais huit ans (Actes Sud, 2005) and through an exhibition at the Rencontres d’Arles.
Françoise Huguier is also very involved within the international photographic community. She founded the Bamako Biennale in Mali, was the chief curator of the Luang Prabang Biennal in Laos in
2010, and for the 2011 Photoquai Biennal organized by the Quai Branly Museum.
Cour de Venise
12, rue Saint-Gilles, Paris IIIe
T +33 1 76 21 41 30
F +33 1 76 50 21 83
[email protected]
www.polkagalerie.com
9:97:;0"&!.<%=%>:7?;0"&!.<
Bibliography
Au doigt et à l’œil, ed. Sabine Wespieser, Paris, 2014
Françoise Huguier, coll. Photo Poche, ed. Actes Sud, Arles, 2012
Kommounalki, ed. Actes Sud, Arles, 2008
J’avais huit ans, ed. Actes Sud, Arles, 2005
Sublimes, ed. Actes Sud, Arles, 1999
Secrètes, ed. Actes Sud, Arles, 1996
En route pour Behring. Notes de voyages en Sibérie, ed. Maeght, Paris, 1993
Sur les traces de l’Afrique fantôme, ed. Maeght, Paris, 1990
Filmography
2008
Kommunalka, documentary, Les films d’Ici
2000
Journée ordinaire, short film of « Scénarios sur la drogue », Téléma
1999
Mission 2000, short film for French Culture ministry, Téléma
C’est la vie, short film produced by Comme des cinémas
productions & On Ward
1985
Lisbonne nuit, short film for France 3
Cour de Venise
12, rue Saint-Gilles, Paris IIIe
T +33 1 76 21 41 30
F +33 1 76 50 21 83
[email protected]
www.polkagalerie.com