"In Focus: Young French Artists" presents the work of nine recently graduated artists of the National School of Photography in Arles. There is no common theme in this exhibition, just new artists, each with s his own way of seeing the world. The photos cover many themes; from daily life, family, intimacy, adolescents, travel, and city, to politics and history nothing is off limits. Every photographer has a different perspective, but all share the same commitment to the subjects they unveil through photography. These images must be seen not as simple records of the world and its effects, but as thoughts into action, a formal and visual translation of what gives us the real. These nine young artists are all following the same commitment to photography, are attentive to the world, , and are ready to become the future creative generation.

PAULINE FARGUE
Pauline Fargue was born in 1975, and currently lives and works in Paris. It was her simultaneous discovery of the works of Chris Marker and Gary Hill that suddenly attracted Pauline Fargue to images, whereas she had been preparing a university degree in philosophy, and was preparing to join PSA Peugeot-Citron where she was supposed to set up the "Institute for the Mobile City." In 2002, she left Paris and entered the Arles National School of Photography (ENSP) where she confronted her theoretical research with practice. That is when she started redefining photography, which she combined with other media, such as video, sound, performance, and sculpture. Then she went abroad to draw pictures of gardens, and came back to France for an exhibition at the Arles Festival in 2008. With Hubert Nyssen and the Vincent Van Gogh Foundation, in 2010, she created Peut-être me trouveras-tu là où je ne suis point (Perhaps you will find me there where I am not). This autumn, she had a book published by Thierry Magnier éditions, and participated in the group exhibition "fidélité, découvertes, enthousiasme" (faithfulness, discoveries, enthusiasm) at the galerie du jour agnès b.

LA TITIA DONVAL
Born in 1981, La titia Donval lives and works in Brest. She graduated from the Arles National School of Photography (ENSP) in 2007, and lives in Brest where she organizes photography workshops and training courses, while continuing her exhibitions and participating in artist-in-residence programmes. A member of the European photographers collective Smoke from 2007 to 2012, she self-published her first book, Nerves, in 2010. Her work has been exhibited at the Quinzaine Photographique Nantaise (Nantes Photography Festival), the F/Stop Festival (Leipzig), the International Center of Photography (New York), the Arles International Photography Festival, and the Atelier de Visu (Marseille). Her abrupt and fragmentary work questions our belonging to the human community, and reveals her unstable relationship to the real - between attraction and rejection.

GELLES POURTIER 与 ANNE-CLAIRE BROC'H
Born in 1980, Gilles Pourtier lives and works in Marseille. After completing a degree in French Literature, he undertook studies in glassblowing in Nancy at the European Centre for Research and Training in Glassblowing (CERFAV), which led him to work in London for four years. He entered the Arles National School of Photography (ENSP) in 2006, and graduated in 2009, the year in which he participated in the exhibition Une attention particulière (A Particular Attention) at the Arles Photography Festival. During his three years of studies in Arles, he developed a personal approach combining photography, multimedia, and video. His photographic works have been exhibited numerous times in France and abroad.

Born in 1984, Anne-Claire Broc'h lives and works in Marseille. She is a photographer and film-maker. She studied at the Fine Arts School of Brest (Master of Fine Arts in 2006), then at the Arles National School of Photography (ENSP) (a 2009 graduate). She made her first short film in 2007, which received an award from the French National Cinema Centre (CNC). Her activities alternate between photography, teaching, and writing screenplays, and she is currently preparing a documentary film based on texts by the poet and singer Gaston Couté (1880-1911).

VERA SCHOPE
Born in 1979, Vera Schope lives and works in Berlin and Houston, Texas. Living astride three nationalities, she has been naturally led to use photography and other media to muse upon questions of identity, memory, and territory. After having studied English literature and international relations, in 2006, she arrived at the Arles National School of Photography (ENSP). She then began a project on the cultural affiliation of the people living on the Mexican-American border between Ciudad Juárez (Mexico) and El Paso (Texas), called "I am the border." In 2010, she produced "Another Beirut," a project completed on the basis of images and interviews in which young Lebanese redefine Beirut. These projects were developed as collaborative experiments in the communities in which they were completed. The social aspects of these projects inform their content, and they ultimately give rise to writing workshops and multidisciplinary discussions. Her latest book of photography, FREE FROM, continues her reflections on archives and how our memories evolve. In France, her work has been exhibited at the Arles International Photography Festival, the French Senate, Bourse du Travail (Paris), and the Atelier de Visu (Marseille). Her work has been shown abroad at the Fotofreo Festival (Fremantle, Australia), the Festival International FotoGrafia (Rome), at the Instituto Reynosense para la Cultura y las Artes (Reynosa, Mexico), at the FOAM, Van Loon Museum, and the Maison Descartes (Amsterdam).

LOLA HAKIMIAN
Born in 1984, Lola Hakimian lives and works in Montréal, Canada. She studied sociology and anthropology before entering the Arles National School of Photography (ENSP) in 2007 and graduating in June 2010. These three years culminated in a post-graduate residence at the International Center of Photography in New York during the summer of 2010, where she created Midday, New York (Part I and Part II). Her work has been shown at several joint exhibitions: Transaction in the "Off" fringe festival of the Arles Photography Festival in 2011, and also at the Nikki Diana Marquardt Gallery in Paris and La Maison blanche in Marseille in 2012. A portfolio of the series Au plaisir la douleur (Pleasure comes with pain) was recently published by Actes Sud in the book Qu’avez-vous fait de la photographie? (What have you done with photography?) She now lives in Montréal, where she regularly works with multidisciplinary artists.

JUSTINE PLUVINAGE
Born in 1983, Justine Pluvinage lives and works in Lille. After studying psychology, Justine turned towards photography, obtained a BTS vocational qualification, and graduated from the Arles National School of Photography (ENSP) in 2009. For several years she has been developing an essentially videographic approach, which places the human being at the heart of her artistic preoccupations. She creates portraits, seeking in others the rough edges that make them profoundly human. Between intimacy and poetry, she strives to address universal questions in the simplest possible way.

MOUNA SABONI
Born in 1987, Mouna Saboni lives and works in Paris. After university studies in Social and Solidarity Economy Administration, Mouna Saboni arrived at the Arles National School of Photography (ENSP) in 2009. Of Franco-Moroccan origin, she is driven by questions of memory and exile. Her work examines her own relationship with the land and that of individuals with their environment - questions that she explored during her three years at the ENSP, notably through a project carried out in Palestine, where she stayed for several months. Her work was presented along with Till Roeskens and Marc Trivier at the festival Laissons mijoter (Let it simmer) in Chasselas and the Annie Gabrielli Gallery in Montpellier. Her photographs have also been displayed at the joint exhibition of the ENSP’s 2012 graduates, on the occasion of the 30th anniversary of the ENSP during the Arles Photography Festival 2012 and at the galerie du jour agnès b. during the Month of Photography Festival in Paris.

JOHAN ATTIA
Born in 1982, Johan Attia lives and works in Lyon. His encounter with photography happened rather fortuitously, when he discovered the work of William Eggleston. After studying history and professional experience in various archive departments, he arrived at the Arles National School of Photography (ENSP), graduating in 2011. He has been involved in several joint exhibitions: The Last Hypermarkt, Galerie 2600, La collection Rachid DATA.