Vies infimes, vies infâmes - Quelques réflexions sur la photographie queer

This lecture examines the regimes that have historically shaped, and continue to determine, the presence of gender minorities in the photography. Archival erasure and the scarcity of visual sources coexist, paradoxically, with stereotypical hypervisibility. In the face of these impositions, emancipatory practices – such as self-representation, community archives and the subversion of visual codes – are reshaping our relationship with the medium. The aim is therefore to uncover the mechanisms through which photography, far from being a mere vehicle for representation, actively participates in the social construction of gender identities and may, depending on how it is used, either reinforce norms or become a tool for subjective reappropriation.

Hélène Giannecchini is a French writer, art theorist and curator. With a PhD in literature, she specialises in the relationship between text and image, as well as the history of photography and contemporary art. She has devoted a significant part of her research to the photographer and writer Alix Cléo Roubaud, for whom she curated a major retrospective at the Bibliothèque nationale de France in 2014. She has taught at the École européenne supérieure de l’image and was a fellow at the Villa Medici (2018–2019) and subsequently at the Villa Albertine. Her best-known books include Une image peut-être vraie (2014), Voir de ses propres yeux (2020) and Un désir démesuré d’amitié. Her recent work focuses in particular on LGBTQI+ archives, minority narratives and the cultural history of queer communities.