CATHERINE MERDY

Photographer

7 rue Lantiez
75017 Paris
Tel : 0033 676 494 311
Email : catherine.merdy@free.fr

http://www.catherinemerdy.com

Biography

Born in 1968, Catherine Merdy studied cinema at the Ecole Nationale Louis-Lumière. Cameraman and photographer, she lives and works in Paris.
Her photographic work is strongly marked by the sense of freedom that accompanies the simple use made of what she calls her “toy cameras”: Lomo LCA, Lubitel, Holga, pinhole techniques... toy cameras with rudimentary functions for a voluntarily non-perfect result.
She collects images from her everyday life, using the camera as a sort of diary in which she writes her own story and the stories of the people she knows. From this regular note-taking, Catherine Merdy associates, multiplies and compares the collected images to make a patchwork vision of a multi-faceted society.
Her work only gains its meaning from this 'impulse' to click a camera and discover things and people. There's no staging, no desire to tell a pre-established story or create a documentary work. She looks for life in its rawest state, and her associations are a personal view on our modern world.
After a residency in Beirut in March 2005, she continues her work in foreign cities and has enlarged the scope of her experiments to include other cultures.
Catherine Merdy was awarded the FNAC Attention Talent Photo prize in 2000.

Individual exhibitions

2008
2, Atelier A, Nantes
              2 beirut, Gare du Nord, Paris

2007
2 beirut, Chroniques Nomades Off, Honfleur

2006
2 paris, beirut, new york, Mois de la photo>OFF, Espace Windows, Paris

2005
2.x , Atelier du verbe, Paris
              2.x, Zico House, Beyrouth Liban

2004
2.2, Atelier FX Jousset, Paris
              2.2, Charly’s bar, Paris

2002
2.1, Dos de la baleine, Paris

2001
2.1, Viaduc des arts, Paris
              2.1, Usines Meura, Tournai Belgique

2000
2.1, Fnac Montparnasse, Paris
              2.1, Fnac La Défense, Paris

Collective exhibitions

2008
La rue, Biennale Internationale de l’Image Nancy

2007
La rue est à nous, Galerie Univer, Paris

2006
Foto Povera 2, Centre photographique Ile-de-France, Curator: Yannick Vigouroux

2003
Opus café, Paris

2001
Nicephore+161, Territoires urbains, Clermont Ferrand
              La filature, Mulhouse. « Ninetique »
              Talentbrut, Palais Omnisport Paris Bercy, Paris

2000
Lomo views of Paris, Mois de la photo, Fondation Brownstone, Curator: Samantha Barroero
              Galeries Fnac, Art Jonction, Nice

Others

Artist's residency at the Zico House in Beirut, Lebanon. 2005
Special mention in the Attention Talent Photo Fnac  2000

Publications

New York, collective work,  Kharacter collection, Editions du Terrail
2, individual work, Landscape productions, 2006
Les pratiques pauvres, Yannick Vigouroux and JM Baeldner, Isthme Editions, 2005

Press

“Snapshots of urban life, visual wanderings”, Yannick Vigouroux, Exporevue.org, May 2005
“French photographer delves into intensity of Beirut”, Kaelen Wilson-Goldie, Daily Star, 30 March 2005
“Photography isn't what it used to be”, article on contemporary photography, Christian Gattinoni and Yannick Vigouroux, Réponse Photo, n°138, September 2003, p.61
“Life in pictures”, Isabelle Desobry, Axelle, n° HS jJumy/August 2000, p.35-37
“Warning: talent”, Journal des Galeries photo, special edition, June 2000