Paris Photo
Nov 2021
What a treat to go to Paris Photo for the first time every. Not really sure why I haven’t been to this photography fair before, maybe because I thought is was too similar to Photo London. But Paris Photo is the big one, with all the major galleries turning up and many of the exhibiting artist are actually there, signing books and talking to potential buyers. This year the show was in Le Grand Palais Ephemere, a big fancy tent overlooking the Eiffel Tower, with an emphasis of diversity, and a spotlight on women photographers. Talking of which, I got to meet Sophie Calle, one of my favourite photographers, as well as see Anastasia Samoylova’s dummy book of her Florida work displayed alongside Walker Evans Florida photos which have never been published before (BTW Walker Evans and Nan Goldin are also my favourite photographers, along with some others). When I asked a question about Mark Mahaney’s Polar Nights photos, the gallery said why don’t you ask Mark himself, who was standing next to me.
Some random photos that caught my eye are above, but one of the highlight was also the fantastic Photo book publishers stalls and the display of the Aperture photo book awards that was announced at Paris Photo.
Beyond the show, it was great to see Paris again, a city that loves photography. And I even managed to squeeze in a couple of galleries, most notably the newly opened Bourse de Commerce - part of the Pinault collection, which is stunning!
