Olivia Gay is a French documentary photographer. Her work mainly questions the position of women and issues related to work in the contemporary world, mainly in France. The “Origines” series that we present here was produced in 2020 as part of the “Mission photographique Grand Est” commissioned by the Grand Est Region, France. In this part of France bordering Germany and Switzerland, the photographer has, as she always does, dialogued with the inhabitants, involving them in her photographs. No stolen images, just benevolent attention to collect moments of life, relationships, reveal spaces, question everyday life in depth. The importance given, among other things to framing and light, offers us photographs of high aesthetic quality, in dialogue with the traditions of painting. A work both documentary and artistic.

Olivia Gay was born in 1973 lives and works in Le Perche, Normandy. She studied art history at the University of Bordeaux and photography at the New England School of Photography, Boston, USA, before working as a press photographer. She graduated from École nationale supérieure de la photographie d'Arles in 2016 and is currently conducting a PhD “research and creation” as part of the RADIAN program. Her research focuses on the image of women at work from a comprehensive photography (in the sense of a comprehensive sociology, Weber). She exhibited in France and abroad and received the GD4 Art Award from the MAST Foundation in 2010, and the Joy Hendricks HSBC Special Award in 2018.

The photographs were produced by

GRAND EST

Une mission photographique

Une commande de la Région Grand Est pilotée par La Chambre,

en collaboration avec le CRI des Lumières