Born in La Louvière, Belgium
Lives and works in Berlin
Studied Photography at Ar.co, Lisbon and Academy of Fine Arts, Ghent.
Graduated as a Master in Applied Communication specialized in Media Education at IHECS, Brussels.
Bénédicte Blondeau’s work finds its inspiration in her immediate environment. The spaces depicted in her pictures are mostly empty and silent and could be seen as a kind of « heterotopia », a perambulation from nature to city, a way of experiencing urban spaces, a selection in and an interpretation of a material, constructed and pre-orchestrated world. Corridors, halls, waiting rooms, passages create spaces of otherness in which the rules and norms of society no longer apply. Their emptiness leaves an impression to the spectator, who observes from a certain distance. Impression implying a kind of speculation, coming from what we see but also from what we imagine from it. Here and there characters emerge, fragile and uncertain, without being seen completely. The space becomes more than what is represented, inviting to wonder what happened or will happen inside, but also outside of it. The environment depicted in her images becomes like another space, real and absolutely unreal at the same time. An expanding parallel universe which finds its source in urban interiors or sometimes in nature, used to create images whose ways of interpretation contrast with the actual flow of images generated by the media in our societies.
Bénédicte Blondeau also worked as a documentary movies director.
Solo and group shows:
2022 « Sous influence » - Biennale de la Photographie de Mulhouse (upcoming) (FR)
2022 «those eyes, these eyses, they fade» - Valletta Contemporary, Malta (upcoming) (MT)
2022 G37 Gallery - Berlin (solo - upcoming)
2021 Photoforum PasquArt - Bienne, Switzerland (Ce qu'il reste, solo)
2021 LUFT Exhibition, 48 hours Neukölln - Berlin (Ce qu’il reste, collective)
2020 PHotoESPAÑA - Best Photo Book Award Exhibition - Madrid (Ce qu’il reste, collective)
2019 November Exhibition, Planet Flow - Berlin (Ce qu’il reste, collective)
2019 Loading Fest Projection night - Porto (Ce qu'il reste, collective)
2019 Bolseiros&finalistas, Ar.co - Lisbon (Ce qu’il reste, collective)
2018 The Essential, Loosen Art - Rome (Ce qu’il reste, collective)
2018 Diaporama, Gulbenkian foundation - Lisbon (Anesthesia, collective)
2017 Sorry Not Sorry, Rust vzw - Ghent (Anesthesia, collective)
2017 Summer Exhibition 2017, Ar.co - Lisbon (Anesthesia, collective)
2015 Het Zuiden van Europa - Ghent (Lieux intimes, solo)
2014 Academie voor Beeldende Kunst - Ghent (Lieux intimes, collective)
Books:
2019 Ce qu'il reste
Photo book published by XYZ Books
Awards:
2021 Best Book Design From All Over the World 2021, Stiftung Buchkunst (Ce qu'il reste, nominated)
2020 DGLab Book Design Awards 2020 (Ce qu’il reste, design by Joana Durães, honorable mention)
2020 Photo España’s best book award, international category (Ce qu’il reste, finalist)
2020 ADAGP MAD Revelation Artist Book Award (Ce qu’il reste, shortlisted)
Publications:
2021 Flare: Bénédicte Blondeau: Ce qu’il reste, by Miriam Edmunds
2021 Exit Magazine: Exit #81 - Blackness (Anesthesia)
2021 The zone zine (Ce qu'il reste - with sound by Guglielmo Piva)
2020 Dienacht (Ce qu'il reste)
2020 Grandmama’s Print (Ce qu’il reste)
2020 Cahier d'images (mixed portfolio)
2020 Photocaptionist (Ce qu’il reste)
2020 MAD tv and ADAGP (Ce qu'il reste)
2020 Malenki (interview, Ce qu'il reste)
2020 Yearbook 2020, book and online exhibition - Shutter Hub (Refuge)
2020 Camera Austria (Ce qu'il reste)
2019 Phases Magazine (Ce qu'il reste)
2019 The Heavy Collective: Friday Fry Up (Ce qu'il reste)
2019 GUP magazine: GUP #61 - Escape (Ce qu'il reste)
2019 Ce qu'il reste - self-published photo book
2018 Scopio Magazine - Contrast, Porto (Ce qu'il rete)
Talks:
2019 Unseen Book Market - Amsterdam
2018 Ciclo de Conferências de Fotografia III - Unidade curricular: Fotografia,
Arquivo Fotográfico de Lisboa, Lisbon