Born in Mulhouse, France in 1976, Lavoué worked as a timber engineer in the Amazon region of Brazil, only sporadically taking photographs. It was the pictures of Sebastião Salgado that inspired him to take up photography as a profession. In 2001 he took a course at the Centre Iris Photography School in Paris, after which he worked for the national and international press. His pictures have been shown in numerous exhibitions at home and abroad.
"I encountered the land of the Bigouden only a few days after meeting my partner, Catherine.
I was in my twenties, we had just decided to spend our life together and I had already had to go to Malaysia for several months. To seal our very young relationship, she decided to submit me to the "bigouden test", an initiation ceremony of a few days, at her grandparents' in Kérity.
From the first moment, I was literally bewitched. The smile of her grandmother welcoming us on the sidewalk, the blinding white light on the front of the house, the tray of steamed langoustines on the living room table ... then the strolls on the shore, the silhouette of the lighthouse, the stories of sailors lost at sea
Everything, my retina printed everything.
Twenty years later, here we are again at Kérity. With our two daughters.
After more than a decade of life in Paris, we are yearning for profound changes. We have considered everything: Rio de Janeiro, San Francisco, Montreal.
Finally, it was at Cap Caval, the southern tip of Finistère, that we decided to settle.
In Kerity, in the house of Catherine's grandparents.
Quickly, this small familiar territory provoked the long-awaited Copernican revolution. The end of Parisian commissions has enabled me to practice a more personal photography and our new environment becomes my main source of inspiration. It's about trying to express the emotions I can feel living here on the edge of the world.
I grope around, experiment with several photographic forms to escape the worn-out iconography of the seashores, boats and fishing nets. Luckily, I'm too sick at sea to photograph on board! So I stay at the quay and push the door of the hangars: auctions, shipyards, marine forges, canneries, coolers ... I discover the "On land " sector fed by the successive tides of trawlers, trolling boats and netters. Community. Manual work. Painfulness. The economic and social architecture of the territory.
And there are young people . Those who have not left "the country" but cling to it, viscerally. They intrigue me, I photograph them: the young self-employed fisherman, queen of the embroiderers, miller, fish-scaler, surfer ... why do they stay when the majority leave? They guide me on new paths and help me complete my "Bigoudene" mind map.
That's how The Black Months was born, a fictional photographic story, an intimate representation of the territory in which my "bigoudène" and I had decided to live."
70 writers, whether academicians or young novelists, following Leïla Slimani and Jean d'Ormesson, are featured in the pages of this book.
Gathered by Étienne de Montety for the 70th anniversary of the "Figaro Litéraire" that he manages, they play the literary game inherited from the surrealists and let themselves be photographed for the occasion by Stéphane Lavoué.
American photographer Matthew Finley turns inward, using photography as a way to explore identity, memory, and emotional truth. Based in Los Angeles, his practice moves between performance, gesture, and found imagery, creating a visual language that is both intimate and deeply personal
Dutch photographer Jan Janssen explores universal human experiences through his long-term project It Matters, winner of the May 2025 Solo Exhibition. Begun in 2016, the series captures intimate moments of everyday life—love, loss, connection, and belonging—across Central and Eastern Europe.
Working in countries such as Turkey, Azerbaijan, and Armenia, Janssen spends extended time within communities, building relationships based on trust and respect. His approach allows him to move beyond observation, revealing deeply human and authentic moments.
Rooted in travel and personal discovery, It Matters reflects Janssen’s search for what connects us all in an increasingly divided world. The project is ongoing and will culminate in a photobook scheduled for publication in 2026.
German photographer Henk Kosche turns his lens toward the streets of Halle an der Saale, capturing everyday life in the late years of the former German Democratic Republic. At the time, Kosche was studying design and exploring the city with his camera, drawn to the atmosphere of its industrial landscape and the quiet rhythms of daily life.
His series Street Photography at the End of the 80s, selected as the Solo Exhibition for July 2025, revisits a body of work created just before a period of profound change. Rediscovered decades later in a small box of 35mm negatives, these photographs offer glimpses of a city and its people at a moment suspended between the familiar and the unknown.
Anastasia Samoylova is an American artist whose photographic practice is shaped by close observation and a deep attentiveness to place. Working between documentary and formal exploration, she photographs landscapes, architecture, and everyday scenes with a sensitivity to light, structure, and atmosphere. Since relocating to Miami in 2016, her work has increasingly focused on how environments—both natural and built—carry social, cultural, and emotional traces. We asked her a few questions about her practice and her way of seeing, to better understand the thoughts and experiences that shape her work—while allowing the images themselves to remain open and speak in their own time.
Marijn Fidder is a Dutch documentary photographer whose work powerfully engages with current affairs and contemporary social issues. Driven by a deep sense of social justice, she uses photography to speak on behalf of the voiceless and to advocate for the rights of those who are most vulnerable. Her images have been widely published in major international outlets including National Geographic, CNN Style, NRC Handelsblad, Volkskrant, GUP New Talent, and ZEIT Magazin.
Her long-term commitment to disability rights—particularly through years of work in Uganda—culminated in her acclaimed project Inclusive Nation, which earned her the title of Photographer of the Year 2025 at the All About Photo Awards. She is also the recipient of multiple prestigious honors, including awards from World Press Photo and the Global Peace Photo Award.
We asked her a few questions about her life and work.
Josh S. Rose is a multidisciplinary artist working across photography, film, and writing. His practice bridges visual and performing arts, with a strong focus on movement, emotion, and the expressive potential of the image.
Known for his long-standing collaborations with leading dance companies and performers, Rose brings together authenticity and precise composition—a balance he describes as “technical romanticism.” His work has been commissioned and exhibited internationally, appearing in outlets such as Vogue, at the Super Bowl, in film festivals, and most recently as a large-scale installation for Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts.
A sought-after collaborator, he has worked with major artists, cultural institutions, and brands, following a previous career as Chief Creative Officer at Interpublic Group and the founder of Humans Are Social.
We asked him a few questions about his life and work.
Photographer Maureen Ruddy Burkhart brings a quietly attentive and deeply human sensibility to her exploration of the world through images. Shaped by a life immersed in photography, film, and visual storytelling, her work is guided by intuition, observation, and an enduring interest in the emotional undercurrents of everyday life. With a practice rooted in both fine art traditions and documentary awareness, she approaches her subjects with sensitivity, allowing subtle moments to emerge naturally rather than be imposed.
Her series Til Death, selected as the Solo Exhibition for February 2025, reflects this long-standing commitment to photography as a space for reflection rather than spectacle. Drawn to moments that exist just outside the expected frame, Burkhart’s images suggest narratives without resolving them, leaving room for ambiguity, humor, and quiet connection.
We asked her a few questions about her life and work.
Winner of AAP Magazine #45 Travels, his series reflects this unique vision—capturing the spirit of place through subtle layers of light, color, and emotion. Whether traveling abroad or observing the rhythms of his own surroundings, Ydeen creates images that feel both grounded and enchanted, inviting viewers into a world where reality and reverie meet.
Chinese-born photographer Julie Wang brings a poetic, contemplative sensitivity to her visual exploration of the world. Having lived for nearly equal parts of her life in China, Europe, and the United States, she approaches her subjects with the nuanced perspective of someone shaped by many cultures. This blend of distance, curiosity, and emotional resonance infuses her work with a quiet depth, allowing her to reveal the fragile beauty and subtle tensions that often pass unnoticed.
