As with most creative disciplines, there’s a discrepancy between the number of men and women recognised for their talent in photography. However, female representation at this year’s edition of Paris Photo - the biggest and most influential photographic art fair in the world - is a heartening sign of how things are changing. Here are a handful of my favourite people and projects, for those planning to visit.
This year’s Paris Photo throws a major spotlight on female photography with a new route through the fair, entitled Elles x Paris Photo. Elsewhere, women to look out for, include , whose photographic sculptures present new perspectives on pressing questions of the day, , whose striking embroidered photographs are part of founder presentation, , whose work explores and reproductive rights, and curator - one half this year’s prizewinning duo. Now in its eighth year, was founded by photography powerhouse Emilia Genuardi, as a space to showcase artists who experiment with the photographic medium.
It’s a great place to discover artists pushing the boundaries of what photography can be and, through its unRepresented section, to purchase work early in artists’ careers. A brilliant exhibition of photographic collages by Eulàlia Grau, now in her late seventies, who, as a young artist, turned to the medium as a way to freely explore religion, politics, oppression, and injustice, and bypass the conservative, authoritarian and censorial rules of the Franco dictatorship. .