NAMSA LEUBA
THE BIOGRAPHY
Namsa Leuba is a Swiss-Guinean photographer born in Switzerland in 1982. She studied photography at ECAL (Ecole Cantonale d’Art de Lausanne), where she obtained a Master’s degree in Art Direction. Her work has been published in numerous magazines, including The New Yorker, i-D, Numéro, KALEIDOSCOPE, Foam, Interview, Vice Magazine, New York Magazine, Libération, British Journal of Photography, and European Photography.
Ms Leuba’s diverse photographic practice examines the representation of African identity through the Western imagination. Spanning documentary, fashion and performance, Ms Leuba creates a visual imaginary that explores the signs and symbols of her cultural heritage.
In 2010, Ms Leuba won First Prize at the Festival Planches Contact in Deauville, France. In 2012, Ms Leuba was awarded the PhotoGlobal Prize at the International Festival of Fashion and Photography in Hyères, France. In 2013, she was also the winner of the Flash Forward Festival curated by the Magenta Foundation. In 2017, her work was nominated for the Foam Talent prize.
Ms Leuba has participated in international exhibitions, including Photoquai in Paris, France; Making Africa: A Continent of Contemporary Design at Guggenheim Bilbao, Spain; Africa Reframed in Copenhagen, Denmark; Daegu Photo Biennale in Daegu, South Korea; Athens Photo Festival in Athens, Greece, and a performance in Off Print at Tate Modern in London, United Kingdom.
In 2018, Ms Leuba’s work was exhibited in the group exhibition African State of Mind at New Art Exchange, Nottingham and in a solo exhibition at Hangar Art Center, Brussels. She worked for The New Yorker on a photographic series documenting emerging Nigerian musicians in Lagos. Ms Leuba is currently based in Tahiti and Switzerland.
NAMSA LEUBA
The Collaboration
NAMSA LEUBA
THE INSIGHT
"The focus on the eyes makes it possible to show through the photographic capture of the gaze, or the symbolism, which is attached to it, the way in which the emotions are addressed, and what is inscribed in us when we share them."
"La Prairie illustrates the natural over time and release the feelings attached to it. Time passes, leaving its mark on all of us. Sometimes these marks are signs of happiness, others signal other emotions lived. On this specific work around the eyes, I wanted to illustrate the hidden nature of emotions: hidden in us, they try to cross the veil that covers them."