Johanna Benaïnous (1991) and Elsa Parra (1990) form a duo of visual artists, photographers and directors. They were invited to the Salon de Montrouge for its 61st edition in 2016, were finalists of the HSBC prize for photography 2016, and nominated the same year for the scholarship Revelations Emerige 2016. They were guest artists at the Festival Circulation (s) in 2017 and the Photo Festival Saint-Germain 2017. They won the 2nd Prix Picto de la Mode 2017. The 88 portraits of the series "A Couple of Them" were acquired by the FMAC (Municipal Fund of Contemporary Art) of the city of Paris in 2018.
Galerie La Forest Divonne presents a selection of images from the series "A Couple of Them", 88 portraits for which the two artists took turns in the skin of characters seen in the street or simply imagined during their urban explorations. A set of touching characters, seemingly real, that one would swear to have already met. It is the album of a generation, in a way. The exhibition will confront these portraits with a new series of images, more intimate. While the portraits of “A Couple of Them” are mainly seized in the street or in public spaces, according to a very objective shooting protocol. The series in preparation should penetrate the intimacy of its subjects by photographing them in their interiors, in more personal settings. The shots should also be less fixed, more varied in their frames, illustrating a more subjective point of view, sheltered behind the walls of houses and individual apartments, in the city or in the countryside, thus continuing the artistic researches engaged by both photographers.
Galerie La Forest Divonne
Founded in 1988 by Marie-Hélène de La Forest Divonne, the "Galerie Vieille du Temple" has become"Galerie La Forest Divonne" in 2015, when it moves in rue des Beaux-Arts. A second space has been opened by her son, Jean de Malherbe, in Bruxelles in 2016. These two generations of gallery managers support international artists, painters, photographers, video makers and sculptors.