SYLVIE RETHINKING PHOTOGRAPHY BONNOT Sylvie Bonnot. Born in France, 1982. Lives and works in between Burgundy and Paris. Represented by Hangar Gallery, Brussels. Sylvie Bonnot develops new modes of photographic transfiguration, questioning our relationship to the living and to the image, in relation to the geographies of space or the transformations of forests. The gesture she has invented with the “moulting” process enhances the organic dimension of the image by crystallizing the membrane of her photographs, without reducing their documentary capacity. Winner of the residencies Elles & Cité at the Cité Internationale des Arts, 2025, ECPAD X ADAGP, 2024, Grande Commande Photo ran by BnF, 2021-23, her exhibitions include: Un monde en mue , a ppr oc he x Réseau Lux, 2024, Décoller-Atterrir , solo show at Château de Tours, 2024, UNIQUE , Hangar, Photo Art Center, Brussels, 2024, La France sous leurs yeux & Épreuves de la matière , BnF, 2023-24, Géographies d’une fusée , CNES, 2023, Biennale des Rencontres Photographiques de Guyane 2023, Le sens de la pente , Centre d’Art d’Ugine, 2022, Baïkonour Tour , Interface, 2022, a ppr oc he, 2021, Mobile/ Immobile , Archives Nationales, 2019, Le Baïkal Intérieur , Le Bleu du Ciel, 2018, Contre-Courants , Musée de La Roche- sur-Yon, 2018, Nuit Blanche 2017 , Cnes, Paris. His work can be found in public and private collections, and is the subject of monographic publications such as L’Arbre-machine - un monde en mue , Éditions Loco, 2024, Derrière la retenue , Actes Sud, 2017, Contre-courants , Nouvelles Éditions Place, 2016. The skin of the world? “Sylvie Bonnot is both a photographer and visual artist and develops, alongside her photography, new modes of image transfiguration, questioning the natural and industrial forms of landscape and space. Sylvie Bonnot is a traveling artist. Her work has taken her from the density and bustle of Tokyo to the isolated and harsh regions of the Spitzberg archipelago, the Australian desert and recently the Amazonia forest in French Guiana. For several years now, thanks to a partnership with the Centre National d’Etudes Spatiales, she has been exploring space and its conquest. She continually returns, however, to the Burgundy countryside and forests where she lives and which form the “geographical meeting point” of these opposing territories. In order to reflect the diversity of her experiences and her view of the world, Sylvie Bonnot explores a variety of approaches and processes, as well as photographic modes. She can adopt a strictly documentary approach or favor experimentation, which increases the image’s evocative power, without ever questioning its power of representation. She then resorts to burning the negative, making incisions in the print, crumpling it up or peeling it off by detaching the thin film of silver gelatin and transposing this “moult” onto other media, whether it be fabric, a volume or the very walls of the exhibition. The works are mostly featuring both organic and technical images, reflect the richness of her experimental practice which, literally and figuratively, reveals the skin of the world ”. ÉTIENNE HATT Art critic and curator, deputy editor-in-chief of Artpress Lame de bois 005 , 2019. Reunion Island, FR 2 4 5 Sylvie’s immersive, layered artworks are created through a technique she calls “moulting,” in which she peels the silver gelatin skin from a physical photograph, disrupting the fragile fabric of the image. The metaphor for humanity’s interference with the natural world is undeniable. To complete her commentary, she lays the gelatin print onto a chosen support or surface. These gelatin sheets can be large and challenging to manipulate, making the process an ambitious physical undertaking—one that transforms the image, giving it new shape, contour, and dimension. A new life. The result is a breathtakingly powerful and disquieting experience. Sylvie sparks a dialogue about the stewardship of nature, questioning balance, sustainability, and the dangers ahead should we fail to take notice. This is personal. She calls us to consciousness, honouring her mother, who works alongside her in nurturing their own forest while paying tribute to other women who share their mission for preservation. In turn she memo- rialises her father and the endeavours of generations of foresters who came before him. Her artistic response is as textured and visceral as the landscapes she engages with. She immerses herself in foresting communities, documenting trees and the economies that depend on them. Her process begins with a journalistic approach—observing, photographing, sharing knowledge, and cultivating appreciation. She makes space for nature while acknowledging the role of mankind and technology in shaping it. They, too, are part of the poetry. If you perceive judgment in her work, it is more likely your own; she does not impose it. When Sylvie Bonnot speaks about her journey into visual arts, she traces a path through her academic studies in fine art and photography, the master’s courses she has pursued, and the artists who have inspired her. A widely exhibited and highly accomplished artist, her work features in esteemed collections such as the Bibliothèque Nationale de France (BnF) and Hangar, Brussels. Her most recent monographic book, L’Arbre-machine, un monde en mue , was published by éditions Loco, Paris, 2024, synthesising ten years of work that combines documentary with artistic expression to describe the natural tension between the forest and the machine. Yet, behind these achievements lies a purpose deeply rooted (pardon the play on words) in heritage and her own cultural relationship with the landscape. Sylvie is also a forester. Alongside her mother, she is the custodian of a vast expanse of Douglas pine forest in rural France, a responsibility Natural tension they inherited following the passing of her father. Foresting for a living is physically demanding, intellectually rigorous, and—according to some in the industry—not traditionally seen as women’s work. Sylvie’s experiences in the field bear witness to these attitudes. Reflecting on her younger years, she admits she had little understanding of how her father managed it alone, now holding a profound sense of respect for him. In inheriting his legacy, she uses her artistic practice to deepen her understanding of the landscape. Her travels have taken her from the depths of the Amazon in French Guiana to the remote wildernesses of Europe, exploring the impacts of industrialisation and climate change and seeking to understand what it truly means to be a guardian of the forest. FIONA SHIELDS Head of Photography, Guardian News & Media 4 5 Arborescence II , 2021. Reunion Island, FR Arborescence I , 2021. Rottnest Island, AU 6 7 Bois printemps 003 (Épicéas) , 2022. Ugine, FR Bois printemps 002 (Entame) , 2022. Saury, FR Bois printemps 006 (Grapin), 2022 Bois printemps 004. (Débusqueur) , 2022. La Sambuy, FR 10 11 Bois drapé (Balbuzard II) , 2024. Petit Saut, French Guiana Bois drapé (Épiphytes) , 2024. Petit Saut, French Guiana 12 13 Bois drapé (Le Kourou), 2024 . French Guiana Bois drapé (Coswine II) , French Guiana, 2024 14 Bois drapé (Jean-Pierre) , 2024. Crique Voltaire, French Guiana Haut-relief Épiphytes , 2024. Petit Saut, French Guiana Haut-relief Ficus Étrangleur , 2024. Petit Saut, French Guiana 18 19 Le jour de nuit I & II , 2024. Saül, French Guiana 20 21 Bobine 005 , 2024. Adhex x Interface, Dijon, FR. Membranes 003 , 2024. Adhex x Interface, Dijon, FR. With the support of ECPAD, Fort d’Ivry, FR Corps de brume (Chutes du Vieux Broussard) , 2024. Crique Voltaire, French Guiana. Corps de brume (Petit Laussat) , 2024. Mana, French Guiana. Petits corps de brume (Coswine II - V & VIII) , 2024. French Guiana 28 29 Petit corps de brume (La Garde - V) , 2024. St Léger, FR. Apparitions , Hangar Gallery, 2024. Brussels, BE 30 Unique, Beyond photography , Hangar, 2024. Brussels, BE. Curators: Hangar Team Solo show Décoller-Atterrir , Château de Tours, FR, 2024. Curator: Hélène Jagot Solo show Un monde en mue, a ppr oc he x Réseau Lux #1 , Paris, FR, 2024. Curator: Emilia Genuardi Front Cover: Corps de brume (Croux) , 2024. Matour, FR Back cover: Membrane / Liane Saut Sabbat , 2024. Adhex x Interface, Dijon, FR RETHINKING PHOTOGRAPHY EUROPEAN MONTH OF PHOTOGRAPHY ARENDT AWARD In the era of artificial intelligence (AI) and digital technologies, photography is undergoing a profound transformation. As AI algorithms push the boundaries of image creation and manipulation, some artists of the new generation choose to respond by revisiting the very roots of photography. By reusing old photographic techniques, rediscovering analog photography, and exploring the complex interactions between light and photosensitive surfaces, they create works that resonate with a tactile and material depth. These emerging artists engage in a dialogue with the past to produce photo-sculptures and innovative installations, thus reinventing the possibilities of the photographic image. Furthermore, by artistically reworking archives, they build bridges between eras, breathing new life into forgotten photographs by questioning their meaning and significance through actual reinterpretation. By turning to analog techniques and light-sensitive materials, they reconnect with a tactile and physical dimension of photography, thus asserting a form of creative resistance to the growing immateriality induced by AI. In this context, “rethinking photography” becomes an exploration of memory, materiality, and creative challenge in an increasingly virtual and artificial world. After “Rethinking Nature” (2021) and “Rethinking Identity” (2023), the third part of this trilogy within the framework of the European Month of Photography titled “Rethinking Photography” marks a new stage in photographic reflection that continues to be nourished by questions about the originality of its language, the status of the author, the potentiality of the image in becoming, or even its role as a creative operator in the current visual world. Thus, the act of rethinking photography in all its various forms and displays is not only a dialogue with the past or a resistance to digital immateriality but also a response to the societal defiance of our time. Paul di Felice This publication is part of the joint project featuring the works of the European Month of Photography Arendt Award nominees 2025: Sylvie Bonnot, Marta Djourina, Raisan Hameed, Simon Lehner and Paulo Simão In their work, the nominated artists bear witness to these new cultural, political and societal challenges by reflecting on or deconstructing the medium of photography. European Month of Photography is a network founded in Paris by Jean-Luc Monterosso in 2006. Over the last nineteen years, different European capitals running international photo festivals were members for a determined period. , Currently, EMOP network consists of the following festivals: EMOP Berlin (emop-berlin. eu), Photo Brussels, Mois de la photographie (photobrusselsfestival. com), Imago Lisboa, Lisbon (imagolisboa.pt), Mois européen de la photographie, Luxembourg (emoplux.lu), and Foto WIEN, Vienna (fotowien.at). europeanmonthofphotography.org The Association is registered in Luxembourg as a non-profit organisation (RC: F 9847). Board members: Paul di Felice, president, curator, co-director of Café Crème asbl and EMOP-Lux, Luxembourg Pierre Stiwer, financial supervisor, co-director of Café Crème asbl and EMOP-Lux, Luxembourg Moritz Van Dülmen, member (CEO, Kulturprojekte, Berlin) Maren Lübbke-Tidow, member, curator (Artistic director EMOP Berlin at Kulturprojekte, Berlin) Delphine Dumont, artistic director Hangar, director PhotoBrussels Festival Felix Hoffmann, artistic director Foto Arsenal Wien and director Foto Wien Rui Prata, director Imago Lisboa Photo Festival Edited by: Paul di Felice for European Month of Photography (non-profit organization) Coordinator: Paul di Felice Graphic design: Dieter Auracher Printed by: Holzhausen, Wolkersdorf, Austria Paper: IQ Print Publisher: Café Crème édition Luxembourg www.cafecreme-art.lu ISBN 978-99987-973-1-4 © 2025 EMOP non-profit organization © 2025 for the printed texts by the authors © 2025 photos/printed images by the artists image page 32–33 © 2025 by Alice Pallot All rights reserved IMAGO LISBOA imagolisboa.pt The aim of the European Month of Photography is to promote cooperation at the European level, strengthen the international photography scene, intensify the exchange of information, and support young artists. This cooperation may lead to exhibitions, publications, artists’ talks, or panel discussions on the topic addressed within the partnering festivals. The board members jointly select five emerging photographers who are then nominated for the EMOP Arendt Award europeanmonthofphotography.org arendt.com/arendt-art FOTO WIEN fotowien.at PHOTO BRUSSELS FESTIVAL, THE MONTH OF PHOTOGRAPHY photobrusselsfestival.com MOIS EUROPÉEN DE LA PHOTOGRAPHIE LUXEMBOURG emoplux.lu EUROPEAN MONTH OF PHOTOGRAPHY BERLIN emop-berlin.eu 38 39