Véronique Besnard studied history and politics (Grenoble Institute for Political Studies) and graduated with an MA in Photography from the University of Brighton (2007).
Her first work is dedicated to refugees and asylum seekers living in Brighton. The photographs illustrate the permanent transition in which people live, once they have arrived in the UK. The series Kings Road was short-listed by the Royal Photographic Society, The Guardian and the HSBC Foundation (France).
In 2012 she self-published a photographic work titled Additional Satellite. This project is inspired by mix feelings regarding her homeland. The book merges two narrations, one intimate and one collective. Images of friends and relatives are mixed with urban and natural landscapes. The book refers to a personal story, but also to the divisions within French society and its nostalgia for an idealized past.
Her following work, The Wall, takes place in the French Alps. Organized in three chapters, The Arena, the Omen, The Garden, this work takes us from a world that was once remote and spiritual, to a modern and accessible environment. The Wall was shortlisted for the First Book Award, (Mack editions) and the Kassel Dummy book award.
Exhibitions
2023 RPS, Kassel Dummy Award ‘23, Kyoto and Tokyo
2023 Ka space for visual culture, Kassel Dummy Award ‘23, Ankara
2023 Jakarta International Photofestival (JIPFest), Kassel Dummy Award ‘23, Jakarta
2023 Centre for contemporary photography, Kassel Dummy Award ‘23, Melbourne
2023 PhotoIreland Festival, Kassel Dummy Award ‘23, Dublin
2023 Grisart, Kassel Dummy Award ‘23, Barcelone
2023 Fotofestiwal, Kassel Dummy Award ‘23, Łódz
2023 Lumenvisum, Kassel Dummy Award ‘23, Hong-Kong
2023 Internationale Photoszene Köln, Kassel Dummy Award ‘23, Cologne
2023 Officine Fotografiche, Kassel Dummy Award ‘23, Rome
2023 Format Festival, Kassel Dummy Award ‘23, Derby
2021 The Wall, Investeam, Paris
2017 Artist in Residency, la Fototeca, Guatemala City
2016 A New Nothing, Osnova Gallery, Moscow
2015 10 Visions of Paris, Palais de Tokyo, Paris
2015 Tidewalk, Jersey Arts Centre
2014 Senza meta. Il libro come pensiero fotografico
(Without a destination. The book as a photographic thought), Fotografia Europea, Reggio Emilia
2013 Additional Satellite, booklaunch, LE BAL gallery, Paris
2012 Sea of Promise, The History of Now, Festival F-Stop, Leipzig
2012 Lockung, with quartet Phantasie, Paris
2011 Le Garage, second edition. Rencontres Internationales de la Photographie, Arles
2011 Bookmakers, LE BAL Paris
2010 Bookmakers, Le Château d’Eau gallery, Toulouse
2010 Le Garage, first edition. Rencontres Internationales de la Photographie, Arles
2009 Kings Road, Lleida fotofestival, Lleida
2008 Battlefield, Brighton Photo Fringe Festival, Brighton Media Centre, Brighton
2008 Kings Road, MarsAttac festival, le Sémaphore, Nîmes
2007 Light Motives, Sassoon gallery, Londres
2007 MA final show, University of Brighton, Brighton
2006 CROP, Brighton Photo Fringe Festival, Sussex Arts Club, Brighton
2004 Sourires de nuit, Cambodge, squat des 400 couverts, Grenoble
2003 Sourires de nuit, Cambodge, Espace K, Grenoble
1999 Giono, Espace les Eaux Claire, Grenoble
Books
Besnard Véronique, Additional Satellite, self-published, Paris, 2012
Besnard Véronique, Kings Road, artist book, 2008
Besnard Véronique, La Mise en Images du conflit afghan, usage de la photographie
dans la presse française et américaine, L’Harmattan : 2005, Paris
Selections / Prizes
2023 Kassel Dummy Award ‘23, Cologne
2018 First Book Award, MACK editions, shortlist, London
2010 Descubrimientos, PhotoEspana, selection, Madrid
2008 Prix de la Fondation HSBC pour la photographie, shortlist, Paris
2007 Joan Wakelin Bursary, Royal Photographic Society et journal The Guardian, shortlist, London
Publications
What does the future of photography looks like ? Owen Gwynne Vince, Anothermagazine.com, London, 2018
Camera Austria # 143, Graz, September 2018
Photobooks, Sebastian Hau, foam magazine # 34 dummy, Spring 2013, Amsterdam
The History of Now, exhibition catalog, F-Stop, Lubok Verlag, Leipzig, 2012
Education
2007 MA Photography, Brighton University, Brighton
2004 Institut d’Etudes Politiques, Grenoble