Laia Abril — À propos — Slash Paris

Dealing with issues surrounding sexuality, the body, psychology, and women rights, Laia Abril brings to the surface invisible images of the uncomfortable and the misunderstood. Her aim is to cultivate empathy by breaking taboos around societal judgments of what or who is different. With a background in journalism her photographic practice has always been deeply influenced by a narrative-based approach and integration of political discourse. In her acclaimed book The Epilogue Abril exemplified this approach through reconstructing the life story of Cammy, a young woman who died from bulimia, using her own photographs along family snapshots, written fragments, diary entries, and medical records. Abril’s current work revolves around conceptualization and interpretation of facts, working with photography, video and mixed media installations. Her ongoing long-term project A History of Misogyny involves a multitude of visual research that entails historical and contemporary comparisons. Its first chapter, On Abortion, documents and highlights the repercussions of women’s lack of legal, safe and free access to abortion. First shown at Les Rencontres d’Arles 2016 and awarded the Prix Madame Figaro, the project utilizes Abril’s signature approach to weave a net of questions around issues of ethics and morality.

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Laia Abril is a multidisciplinary artist. Her work has been shown internationally and is held in major private and public collections such as Musée de l’Elysée, Winterthur Museum, FRAC and MNAC. Abril is the author of Thinspiration (self-published, 2012), Tediousphilia (Musée de l’Elysée, 2014), The Epilogue (Dewi Lewis, 2014) shortlisted for the Paris Photo-Aperture First Book Award, Kassel PhotoBook Festival, Photo España Best Book Award, Lobismuller (RM, 2016) recipient of the Images Book Award and On Abortion (Dewi Lewis, 2017) ICP-Infinity Award nominee.