15.09.2022  •  Art NEWS

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GoSee loves… ‘Elsa & Johanna: The Timeless Story of Moormerland’ – an exhibition at the MEP in Paris presents imaginary neighborhood life with a cinematic aesthetic

During nearly the entire month of May, 2021, French photographer duo Elsa & Johanna were on stay in northwestern Germany, visiting several villages in and around Moormerland, Lower Saxony. They found houses exuding a certain charm of yesteryear where they resided long enough to envision and bring to life their various characters – including disillusioned adolescents, housewives and fathers… An almost cinematic aesthetic characterizes the work of the duo.

The recourse to autofiction, at the heart Elsa & Johanna’s practice, enables the duo to stage scenarios with characters freed from their own identities, and by doing so, to examine contemporary issues such as individuality, as well as concepts of self-representation and anonymity. Their photos, as if taken from family albums, juxtapose portraits, snapshots and accidental photographs with fragments of interiors, proposing multiple and interrelated narratives of fictional daily lives.

The ‘Timeless Story of Moormerland’ opened at the European House of Photography in Paris on 7 September, 2022, and is still on show through 6 November.

Johanna Benaïnous, born 1991 in Paris, and Elsa Parra, born 1990 in Bayonne, are both based in Paris. In 2014, when Johanna was studying at Les Beaux-arts de Paris and Elsa was at Les Arts Décoratifs de Paris, they met in New York during an exchange program at the School of Visual Arts. Since that time, Elsa and Johanna have been collaborating on personal, editorial and commercial projects as an artistic photographer and director duo.

They were among the finalists of Le Prix HSBC pour la Photographie in 2016 and came in second place at Prix Picto de la Photographie de Mode in 2017. In 2018, their work entitled ‘A Couple of Them’ was added to the collection of the FMAC. Elsa & Johanna won the Public Prize at the 2019 Hyères Festival in the category Photography and were among the finalists of the Prix Découverte Louis Roederer at Les Rencontres d’Arles 2020.

GoSee MEP & ELSA&JOHANNA

 
Elsa & Johanna: 'The Timeless Story of Moormerland' MEP, Paris // September 07 - November 06, 2022

Elsa & Johanna: 'The Timeless Story of Moormerland' MEP, Paris // September 07 - November 06, 2022

 
Elsa & Johanna: 'The Timeless Story of Moormerland' MEP, Paris // September 07 - November 06, 2022

Elsa & Johanna: 'The Timeless Story of Moormerland' MEP, Paris // September 07 - November 06, 2022

 
Elsa & Johanna: 'The Timeless Story of Moormerland' MEP, Paris // September 07 - November 06, 2022

Elsa & Johanna: 'The Timeless Story of Moormerland' MEP, Paris // September 07 - November 06, 2022

 
Elsa & Johanna: 'The Timeless Story of Moormerland' MEP, Paris // September 07 - November 06, 2022

Elsa & Johanna: 'The Timeless Story of Moormerland' MEP, Paris // September 07 - November 06, 2022

 
Elsa & Johanna: 'The Timeless Story of Moormerland' MEP, Paris // September 07 - November 06, 2022

Elsa & Johanna: 'The Timeless Story of Moormerland' MEP, Paris // September 07 - November 06, 2022

 
Elsa & Johanna: 'The Timeless Story of Moormerland' MEP, Paris // September 07 - November 06, 2022

Elsa & Johanna: 'The Timeless Story of Moormerland' MEP, Paris // September 07 - November 06, 2022

 
Elsa & Johanna: 'The Timeless Story of Moormerland' MEP, Paris // September 07 - November 06, 2022

Elsa & Johanna: 'The Timeless Story of Moormerland' MEP, Paris // September 07 - November 06, 2022

 
Elsa & Johanna: 'The Timeless Story of Moormerland' MEP, Paris // September 07 - November 06, 2022

Elsa & Johanna: 'The Timeless Story of Moormerland' MEP, Paris // September 07 - November 06, 2022

 
Elsa & Johanna: 'The Timeless Story of Moormerland' MEP, Paris // September 07 - November 06, 2022

Elsa & Johanna: 'The Timeless Story of Moormerland' MEP, Paris // September 07 - November 06, 2022

 
Elsa & Johanna: 'The Timeless Story of Moormerland' MEP, Paris // September 07 - November 06, 2022

Elsa & Johanna: 'The Timeless Story of Moormerland' MEP, Paris // September 07 - November 06, 2022

 
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