Paris (AFP)

Paris-Photo, the largest annual gathering of art photography, has chosen to focus on young emerging creators and contemporary issues of concern such as the destruction and exploitation of nature, the Amazon in Congo.

Bringing together more than 200 exhibitors - 180 galleries (38 for the first time) from 30 countries, and 31 publishers--, this 23rd edition at the Grand Palais presents from Thursday to Sunday more than a thousand photographs, ranging from the old photo - by example of very old photographs of Notre-Dame-- or fashion to documentary subjects through abstract series.

The event, which is popular with the public, had 68,000 participants last year.

"The audience here is very wide: professionals, museum directors, collectors but also amateurs.The spectrum of works presented is very wide.The prices range from 600 euros to several hundreds of thousands", explained to AFP the director Florence Bourgeois.

Paris Photo is keen to distinguish "long-term projects, successful" artists who "are not in the instantaneous image" as are for example the photos on Instagram, said Ms. Bourgeois.

"The work on the medium of photography", she notes, fascinates young designers who like to "reuse old techniques, such as daguerreotype and cyonotype, use techniques of collage, cutting with lazer, etc. , often for unique works ".

- Emerging and singing nature -

The British-Ghanaian writer Osei Bonsu was chosen as commissioner of the sector "Curiosa", who had devoted himself for the first time last year to erotic photography.

Bonsu has selected 14 solos from artists who have recently benefited from a first exhibition. The social and environmental concern is very significant in these young photographers.

The noble sector of the first floor, "Prisms", exhibits large format series, very remarkable, including those of the Ghanaian Zora Opoku, the Belgian Marie Cloquet, or the French Jeremie Lenoir. The latter, 500 meters above sea level from a small plane, photographs at midday. And, under its objective, a car park in Gennevilliers is reduced to a series of features.

The theme of endangered nature is treated with poetry and power. "Carbon casualties", Josh Haner's famous series, Pulitzer Prize and New York Times photographer, denounces the devastation for man on the five continents of ecological disasters.

A colossal "photogram", "Amazogramas" by the Peruvian artist Roberto Huarcaya, on the Amazon rainforest, was printed at night during the full moon with the silhouettes of foliage. Magical!

Two series in black and white on the silent destruction at work in the forest (Eric Guglielmi, "Paradis perdu") and at the bottom of the sea (Nicolas Floc'h) are presented by the Maubert Gallery.

Elsa Leydier, French living in Rio de Janeiro, evokes the Amazon rainforest, with as many red spots as crimes perpetrated against the natives.

The Malagasy Malala Andrialavidrazana, at Caroline Smulders, delivers one of the most original works. It restores the elements and visions (colonial, etc.) of the travels of old, starting with atlases and maps of the nineteenth century, and adding very enlarged details of banknotes or stamps.

A series of photos and an ironic video of the American Nancy Burston shows Trump in different colors ("Trump as five different races", 2016) and turning into Putin (Trump / Putin, cover of Time Magazine in 2018).

Gagosian and Galerie 1900-2000 offer a "Solo Show" Man Ray, illustrating the growing interest of contemporary galleries for historical artists.

As for news photography, BMW, a loyal partner of Paris Photo, exhibits Emeric Lhuisset's carte blanche, with very strong photos of Kurdish fighters.

"Paris Photo" is subject to strong competition, with several fairs off at the same time in Paris. According to the latest report from Artprice, which lists auctions of contemporary art in the world, the photo, by the volume of its turnover, generates only 3%, against 68% to paint.

This fair is a moment of meeting between public and artists. 330 artists' signatures will allow visitors to leave with a dedication during the three days.

© 2019 AFP