Brazilian photography is one of the main salient points of the 22nd edition of the Photoumnas photographic festival, which brings together more than 50 exhibitions in Beauvais and in the Hauts-de-French region, north of Paris. The “home” theme invites us to reflect on the complexity of the accommodation, transcending the simple act of residing to face issues such as meaning, memory and bond with a place.
Brazilian photography is one of the main salient points of the 22nd edition of the Photoumnas photographic festival, which brings together more than 50 exhibitions in Beauvais and in the Hauts-de-French region, north of Paris. The “home” theme invites us to reflect on the complexity of the accommodation, transcending the simple act of residing to face issues such as meaning, memory and bond with a place.
Patrícia MoribeSpecial sent to the Photaumnas Festival
In the French-Brazil 2025 season, dialogue with Brazil is privileged, with different exhibitions of Brazilian or French artists, such as the famous Lucien Clegio, who documented the new capital Brasilia in the early 1960s.
The images of the birth of the division capital of the space of Parc Du Châtellier, in Clermont-de-the Oise, with the colored facades of earth on earth recorded by Anna Mariani (1935-2022), which built a rich collection of popular architecture from all over Brazil, gathered in the “paintings and plaques” series. Mariani’s work obtained an international projection after being exhibited at the 1987 San Paolo Biennale. His daughter, Denise Moreau, came to present his mother’s work to the French public. “I think this rediscovery is important. It is a very relevant job that is over 40 years old,” he explains.
Still in the same green space, Mateus Gomes exhibits “rubble”, which faces the impacts of the exploration of the iron and oil mineral in Campos Dos Goytacazes, in the north of Rio de Janeiro. “It is a work in which I come back with these farmers and their families in the places where they lived and where they were expropriated through a valid but wrong law.” For the artist, it was important to give visibility to the negligence of public power.
“At the time, Sérgio Cabral, then governor of the state of Rio de Janeiro, and Eike Batista, owner of Porto, were arrested and admitted that there was corruption.” Mateus Gomes used photographs as a support for his work to complete the law. “There is an interdisciplinarity between photography and various areas of knowledge, such as psychology, sociology, geography and law”, he explains, underlining “the importance of research in the social sciences to develop relevant works of art”.
Japan, Brazil, Bolivia, France
With a distinct approach, Tatewaki Nio presents his “Neo-Andin” project in Beauvais, focusing on the architecture of El Alto in Bolivia, in particular the buildings known as “Coletti”. Nio explained that his intention, in documenting these events of events, mostly built by the Aimiras, is to go beyond the aesthetics. “My interest is not only to focus on exatus, but bringing the economic aspect, photographing the houses decorated in the middle of these red brick buildings around.”
Nio was born in Japan, but considers herself a “Brazilian photographer”, because she was in Brazil – where she lived for almost 27 years – who started exercising photography in a professional way. His “Neo-Andina” project received the famous photographic prize from the Quai Branly Museum in Paris in 2016. An image of the series was chosen to illustrate this year’s PhotaMnalles edition, in posters and brochures.
The photographer of Santa Catarina Andrea Eicenberger also participates in the Forumnuals with two exhibitions: “Translitor” in Erquery and “Little Illustrated SocioPioPolitical Encyclopedia of Contemporary Brazil” in Noyon.
The Festival has an artistic direction of Fred Boucher, a curative associate of Emmanuelle Halkin and collaboration of the Iiandé Association, dedicated to the support of Brazilian photography in Europe.
Source: Terra

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