January 28 - April 13, 2025
In the collective imaginary, High Kabylia, the mountainous region of northern Algeria, is the symbol of a certain kind of resistance to imperialism, colonization, domination
and terror of all ages. It’s as if the ferruginous nature of its soil had forged the steely character of its inhabitants.
Born in Geneva in 1977, Karim Kal, the grandson of Kabyle parents, is not embarking on an autobiographical or personal journey. The project he developed for the Prix HCB is rather rooted in the research he begun two decades ago in places shaped by political power – prisons, hospitals, suburbs –.
Deeply influenced by the abstract painting vocabulary of the second half of the 20th century, Kal has developed an immediately recognizable style. Mainly photographing
at night, using a powerful flashlight, he reveals certain details and lets others disappear into the darkness. He sculpts reality with light.
Far from the informational overload to which we’ve become accustomed by mainstream media, he slows things down, selects what’s important, and thus proposes a critical
but equally poetic form of asceticism. In so doing, he redefines the documentary contract that is inherent to photographic language.
Curator of the exhibition
Clément Chéroux
Directeur, Fondation Henri Cartier-Bresson
Exhibition
Karim Kal is the 13th recipient of the Prix HCB, which he was given in 2023 by a jury of 6 cultural and photographic professionals.
Awarded every two years by the Fondation Henri Cartier-Bresson, the HCB Award is a creative grant of 35,000 euros enabling a photographer to carry out or pursue an ambitious project. It results in an exhibition at the Fondation Henri Cartier-Bresson and a publication.
Biography
Born in 1977 in Switzerland, French-Algerian photographer Karim Kal lives in Samoëns in Haute-Savoie. Karim Kal studied at the Grenoble School of Fine Arts and the Vevey School of Photography (Switzerland). He first developed an interest in the portrait genre, before photographing public spaces, primarily at night. However, his work always revolves around the human presence, focusing on the traces left by culture and history.
His work has recently been exhibited at the Ikon Gallery (Birmingham, England), La Galerie (Noisy-le-Sec), Les Magasins Généraux (Pantin), the Biennale d’art contemporain de Lyon and the Musée d’Art Moderne d’Alger (MAMA). His work has been included in the collections of the Fonds national d’art contemporain, the Musée d’art moderne et contemporain of Saint-Etienne Métropole (MAMC+), the FRAC Auvergne and the Musée national de l’histoire de l’immigration.
Patron
The Fondation d’entreprise Hermès is the patron of the HCB Award.
