Suzanne Lafont
Through her conceptual work on images and narrative compositions of theatrical scenes, Suzanne Lafont explores the cultural processes of image construction.
(b. 1949 in Nîmes, France, lives and works in Paris and Brussels)
Since the 1980s, Suzanne Lafont has made a mark on the contemporary photography scene with her atypical approach to the problematics raised by visual representation. She turned to visual art after her studies in literature and philosophy, focusing her attention on how images result from a process of cultural elaboration and construction. Her recent work develops the fictional aspect of images, exploring the ludic potential of illusion. The photographic tool is above all an instrument of interrogation, a starting point from which to reflect, beyond the forms themselves, on the issues of representation in the present moment of perception.
As early as the 1990s Lafont’s work gained international recognition. She participated in documenta IX (1992) and documenta X (1997), had solo exhibitions at Carré d’Art, Musée d’art Contemporain, Nîmes, France (2015), Mudam Musée d’art Moderne Grand-Duc Jean, Luxembourg (2011), Pinacotheca do Estado, Sao Paulo, Brazil (2004), Galerie Nationale du Jeu de Paume, Paris, France (1994), MoMA, Museum of Modern Art New York, NY (1992). Suzanne Lafont took part in numerous landmark group exhibitions such as Centro Pompidou Malaga (2021), Museo de Arte Contemporáneo de Buenos Aires, Argentina (2016), Salzburger Kunstverein, Salzburg, Austria (2014), Maison européenne de la Photographie, Paris (2011), Centre Pompidou, Paris, France (2010), MACBA, Barcelona, Spain (2008), Tate Modern, London, UK (2010), Villa Médicis, Rome, Italy (2004), Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Los Angeles, CA (2000), Musée d’Art Contemporain de Montréal, Canada (1995).
Her work is included in many important public collections such as the Art Institute of Chicago; Whitney Museum; Museum of Modern Art (MoMA); The Jewish Museum; San Francisco Museum of Modern Art; Centre Pompidou Paris; Museion, Museum of Contemporary Art of Bolzano; Sammlung Verbund Collection, Vienna, amongst others.
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La cantatrice, 2023
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SCREEN TEST #4 (SYBILLE), 2018
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The New Mystery of Marie Roget, Legend, 2015
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Quoting sixty pages of Guide to Shopping, Project on the City 2, Harvard Design School. 2014 , 2014-2018
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Sans titre, 2014
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Situation Comedy. From General Idea’s pamphlet “Manipulating the Self”, 2011
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Situation Comedy. From General Idea's pamphlet "Manipulating the Self", 2010
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Accessories Counter, 2001/2021
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Trauerspiel, 1997
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Sans titre, 1994/2014
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Sans titre, 1990/2014
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Index, 1987-2014
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Index, 1987-2014
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Index, 1987-2014
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Suzanne Lafont, New Companion Species
Offscreen - Paris, 19 - 24 October 2022
Hôtel Salomon de Rothschild, Paris -
Suzanne Lafont, New Companion Species
Offscreen - Paris, 19 - 24 October 2022
Hôtel Salomon de Rothschild, Paris -
Suzanne Lafont, Dévisager, exhibition view at Centre Pompidou Malaga, 4 December 2020 - 25 April 2021
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Suzanne Lafont, Index, exhibition view at French Institute of Japan, Kyoto, 8 October - 30 october 2021, courtesy: Carré d'Art Musée d'Art contemporain de Nîmes and Erna Hecey
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Suzanne Lafont, Index, exhibition view at French Institute of Japan, Kyoto, 8 October - 30 october 2021, courtesy: Carré d'Art Musée d'Art contemporain de Nîmes and Erna Hecey
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Suzanne Lafont, Nouvelles espèces de compagnie, exhibition view at French Institute of Japan, Kyoto, 8 October - 30 october 2021
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Suzanne Lafont, Nouvelles espèces de compagnie, exhibition view at French Institute of Japan, Kyoto, 8 October - 30 october 2021
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Suzanne Lafont, Nouvelles espèces de compagnie. Anticipation, exhibition view at Musée des Beaux-Arts de Bordeaux, 9 November 2018 - 8 April 2019
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Suzanne Lafont, Nouvelles espèces de compagnie. Anticipation, exhibition view at Musée des Beaux-Arts de Bordeaux, 9 November 2018 - 8 April 2019
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Suzanne Lafont, Nouvelles espèces de compagnie. Roman, exhibition view at Musée des Beaux-Arts de Bordeaux, 9 November 2018 - 8 April 2019
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Suzanne Lafont, Nouvelles espèces de compagnie. Roman, exhibition view at Musée des Beaux-Arts de Bordeaux, 9 November 2018 - 8 April 2019
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Suzanne Lafont, New Companion Specis, 2017
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Suzanne Lafont, New Companion Specis, 2017
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Suzanne Lafont, Nouvelles espèces de compagnie. Roman, exhibition view at Musée des Beaux-Arts de Bordeaux, 9 November 2018 - 8 April 2019
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Suzanne Lafont, Nouvelles espèces de compagnie. Roman, exhibition view at Musée des Beaux-Arts de Bordeaux, 9 November 2018 - 8 April 2019
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Suzanne Lafont, Situation Comedy, exhibition view at Mudam, Musée d'Art Moderne Grand-Duc Jean, 1 February - 22 May 2011, courtesy Erna Hecey Gallery, photo © Andres Lejona
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Suzanne Lafont, Situation Comedy, exhibition view at Mudam, Musée d'Art Moderne Grand-Duc Jean, 1 February - 22 May 2011, courtesy Erna Hecey Gallery, photo © Andres Lejona
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Suzanne Lafont, Index, exhibition view at Erna Hecey Brussels, 21 June - 13 September 2008
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Suzanne Lafont, Index, exhibition view at Erna Hecey Brussels, 21 June - 13 September 2008
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Suzanne Lafont, Index, exhibition view at Erna Hecey Brussels, 21 June - 13 September 2008
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Suzanne Lafont, Index, exhibition view at Erna Hecey Brussels, 21 June - 13 September 2008
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Suzanne Lafont, Episodio, exhibition view at Pinacoteca Sao Paulo, 2005
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Suzanne Lafont, Episodio, exhibition view at Pinacoteca Sao Paulo, 2005
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Suzanne Lafont, Episodio, exhibition view at Pinacoteca Sao Paulo, 2005
Suzanne Lafont, Sea Sound in a Shell
Exhibited for Paris Internationale & Cnap, Paris, 18 - 23 October, 2022
Suzanne Lafont en conversation avec Corinne Diserens, July 24, 2021
On the occasion of Suzanne Lafont's exhibition How Things Think at Erna Hecey Gallery, Luxembourg, April 23 - September 15, 2021
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Suzanne Lafont | Entrée Libre (Free Entry)
Carré d'Art | Nîmes 10 May - 17 Sep 2023From a selection of images belonging to the photographic collection of the museum, the proposal suggests the view of a city in a state of insurrection. Inhabitants, for whom it is not clear whether they are friends or enemies, populate these places. Survival agents (food, clothing, rest) accompany the confused...Read more -
Suzanne Lafont | New Companion Species
Offscreen 2022 | Hotel Salomon de Rothschild | Paris 20 - 23 Oct 2022Erna Hecey is delighted to participate with Suzanne Lafont's New Companion Species, 2018-2019 series in OFFSCREEN's inaugural event dedicated to large scale projects focused on fixed and moving images that transcend the classical art fair format by offering the experience of specially curated proposals in the beautiful vaste rooms of...Read more -
Suzanne Lafont
How Things Think 23 Apr - 15 Sep 2021The exhibition brings together images from various bodies of work the artist has been working on since the early 1990s. Selected among these artworks, the images are arranged and reactivated in a specific way to create a new situation: the exhibition. The chosen framework is the theatrical model. 'A situation...Read more -
Thinking Ahead
A Group Exhibition 24 Oct 2018 - 31 Jan 2019Erna Hecey is delighted to invite you to the inauguration of her new space in Luxembourg, with the group exhibition Thinking Ahead. 'Thinking means venturing beyond,' German philosopher Ernst Bloch wrote in his extensive study on utopianism, The Principle of Hope (written 1938-47). Starting from this notion of thinking ahead,...Read more
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La pensée des objets, ou le performatif contrarié | La critique
Christian Gattinoni, La Critique, June 16, 2021 -
Scènes d'intérieurs | Lëtzebuerger Land
Marianne Brausch, Lëtzebuerger Land, April 30, 2021 -
Suzanne Lafont, How Things Think | L'oeil de la photographie
L'oeil de la photographie, April 26, 2021
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Suzanne Lafont : Situations
201522 x 29 cm, 192 pagesRead more
Publisher: Carré d'Art - Musée d'art contemporain de Nîmes, Bernard Chauveau
ISBN: 978-2-36306-142-3 -
Suzanne Lafont
Fabrique de l'image | Fabbrica dell' immagene 200428 x22 cm, 159 pagesRead more
Publisher: Actes Sud
ISBN: 9782742749539 -
Suzanne Lafont
Appelé par son nom. Marie de Brugerolle 200322 x 28cm, 208 pagesRead more
Publisher: Actes Sud
ISBN: 978-2-7427-4396-4 -
Suzanne Lafont
199722 x 27 cm, 84 pagesRead more
Publisher: Musée départemental d'art contemporain de Rochechouart
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Suzanne Lafont | La suivante 3
Jeu de Paume | Tuesday, December 19 December 17, 2023Suzanne Lafont La suivante 3 Dicussion on Tuesday, December 19, 2023 at 7 pm on the occasion of the release of the 3rd issue...Read more -
Suzanne Lafont | Entrée Libre (Free Entry)
May 10 - September 17, 2023 | Carré d'Art, Nîmes May 9, 2023ENTRÉE LIBRE (FREE ENTRY) From a selection of images belonging to the photographic collection of the museum, the proposal suggests the view of a city...Read more -
Suzanne Lafont | Offscreen 2022
October 10, 2022Erna Hecey is delighted to participate with Suzanne Lafont's New Companion Species, 2018-2019 series in OFFSCREEN's inaugural event dedicated to large scale projects focused on...Read more -
Suzanne Lafont | Science, Fiction
24 September 2022 - 4 March 2023 | Centre d'art et de rencontres Ugine September 19, 2022A proposal by Laurent Montaron with works of the Institute of Contemporary Art Villeurbanne France Collection. Based on Suzanne Lafont's eponymous film recently acquired by...Read more -
Conversation | Suzanne Lafont and Corinne Diserens
July 24th 2021 | Erna Hecey Gallery August 8, 2022For this informal conversation, Suzanne Lafont and Corinne Diserens will depart from the current exhibition How Things Think at Erna Hecey to discuss central elements...Read more -
Jeff Weber | Untitled (Suzanne Lafont) | Freigeister
11 November 2021 - 27 February 2022 | MUDAM Luxembourg November 30, 2021Jeff Weber's 35mm film Untitled (Suzanne Lafont) 2021 is a portrait of French artist Suzanne Lafont, known for her work on the links of photography...Read more -
Suzanne Lafont | Nouvelles espèces de compagnie
8 - 30 October 2021 | French Institute of Japan, Kansai, Kyoto October 8, 2021The seven photographic images titled New Companion Species were originally part of a body of work consisting of two parts: New Companion Species. Novel and...Read more -
Suzanne Lafont | X
Dates TBC | FRAC Carquefou, Pays de la Loire April 26, 2021Suzanne Lafont will participate in a collective exhibition curated by Claude Closky, based on the collection of the FRAC Pays de la Loire. Her work...Read more -
Suzanne Lafont | Children Power 2
7 March - 18 July 2021 | FRAC Ile-de-France, Le Château January 25, 2021'The image will contain one subject only. This subject will be human. Human, it will be feminine. Feminine, her appearance can vary. Indifferently, she can...Read more -
Suzanne Lafont | Special Edition Print and Publication
'Sketches' Book Release November 20, 2020Erna Hecey is delighted to introduce Suzanne Lafont's new publication: Sketches, a foreword to her upcoming exhibition at the gallery, that will open as soon...Read more -
Suzanne Lafont | Faces - A Look at the Other
19 June - 29 September 2020 | Carré d'Art - Musée d'art contemporain de Nîmes July 8, 2020The best way to encounter others is to not even notice the color of their eyes! Once you observe the color of someone's eyes, you...Read more