The objective of this residency, created at the initiative of Gervanne and Matthias Leridon and in collaboration with the MEP and the Cité internationale des arts, is to support young African creation and showcase artistic practices that explore new forms of photography. It is also about promoting artists’ mobility so that they can share their work and expand their artistic and professional network. With this program, the Gervanne + Matthias Leridon Collection and its partners are committed to supporting the winner’s project, allowing her to benefit from privileged support and a three-month residency in the heart of Paris.
On November 23, the Gervanne + Matthias Leridon Collection and the jury met to study the fifty-two applications submitted for this residency. After a dozen preselected dossiers, the choice of the Gervanne + Matthias Leridon Collection and of the jury was made on a very young Congolese photographer: Raïssa KARAMA RWIZIBUKA.
A 24-year-old photographer, Raïssa KARAMA RWIZIBUKA lives and works in Bukavu, in the South Kivu province of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, a region particularly marked by violence against women.
Motivated by a desire for a profound change in the mentality of her country and the vision that the world can have of it, the photographer collaborates with international media such as the BBC, Le Monde or RFI and with humanitarian organizations. His work has also been exhibited in several French institutes and published on the platform Afrique in Visu and Women Photograph. She also contributed in 2020 to the Congo in conversation project of Finbarr O’Reilly, winner of the Carmignac Foundation Prize for Photojournalism.
It will therefore be hosted as part of a three-month artistic residency, from January 3 to March 28, 2022, at the Cité internationale des arts, located in the heart of Paris, and close to the MEP.