In 2023, Elsa and Johanna discovered the Perche region during their Capsule residency, in collaboration with the Ministry of Culture and DRAC Normandie. The locals had the opportunity to appreciate their major works: The Timeless Story of Moormerland at the Moulin Blanchard last summer, and A Couple of Them at the Champ des Impossibles in May. This summer, they are presenting their new series, Sequences, at the grange cathédrale of the Moulin Blanchard, featuring a dozen photographic scenarios comprising around fifty images.
Elsa and Johanna explored the beauty of the Perche landscape in the spring of 2023 before returning in the summer to carry out their photo shoots. Their narrative and meticulous approach, far from documentary style, carefully integrates sets, props, and compositions in which they stage themselves. For the first time, their work incorporates the landscape as a central element, transforming nature into an actor in their compositions.
They inventoried and utilized the diversity of Perche’s landscapes—agricultural, forested, and rolling hills—and the summer lights to create photographic sequences that are both pop and imbued with mystery. Their boundless imagination transformed these landscapes into a captivating and evocative fresco, blending pop aesthetics with a noir ambiance.
Elsa & Johanna
Artiste, Photographe
Elsa Parra (born in 1990) and Johanna Benaïnous (born in 1991) are two French artists who have been collaborating since 2014 under the name Elsa & Johanna. Working at the intersection of photography, performance, and video, they have been creating visual narratives since their encounter, in which they play the central roles. They have exhibited their work at the Salon de Montrouge, the MAC VAL, Paris Photo, and the Hyères Festival. In 2020, they were finalists for the Discovery Award at the Rencontres d’Arles and released their first photographic book, “Beyond the Shadows.” Towards the end of 2021, Elsa & Johanna curated their first retrospective exhibition at the Karlsruhe Museum of Modern Art in Germany. They also exhibited in 2022 at the Studio of the Maison Européenne de la Photographie and released a new monograph that same year with The Eyes Editions titled “Ce que vaut une femme – Les Douze heures du jour et de la nuit.”
Anaïs Viand
Auteur, Critique d'art
Anaïs Viand A graduate of Sciences Po with a Master’s degree in French and Francophone literature, Anaïs has gained extensive experience in cultural organizations. Passionate about theater and photography, she began her career at a cultural engineering agency. For 7 years, she was the web editor-in-chief and print editor for Fisheye magazine, where she managed the Fisheye Photo Review. She has participated in various juries and given lectures at schools such as ETPA and ENS Louis Lumière, as well as at festivals like Circulation(s) and PhotoDoc. Now a freelance professional based in Lyon, she develops media and information literacy activities and continues her writing projects.