Youqine Lefèvre (b. 1993, CN) is a Belgian visual artist currently based in Namur, Belgium. Her artistic practice, combining photography, archives, video, text and research, is an exploration of the relationship between the intimate and the political.
Her work focuses on the declining birth rate in East Asia with the aim of deconstructing Western stereotypes over these territories, their population and culture. With a strong interest in demography and sociology and as an artist of Asian descent who grew up in Belgium, she brings a unique critical eye to these issues.
Through individual stories - both her own and those of others - she looks for ways to tell the intimate while at the same time distancing herself in order to study an issue as a whole. Her first book, The Land of Promises, published by the Dutch independent publisher The Eriskay Connection, is about the Chinese birth control policy and the artist's international and transracial adoption. It brings together the themes that have always been present in her work: family, childhood and memory. Starting from a personal story, the subject broadens to become societal, social, political, cultural and economic. The book has been shortlisted for the Paris Photo – Aperture First PhotoBook Award 2022.
© Anne-Sophie Guillet
CV
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Education
2018-2020 Master in Visual Arts / Photography, The Royal Academy of Fine Arts (KASK), Ghent (BE)
2014-2016 Higher education in photography, School of Applied Arts (CEPV), Vevey, first prize (CH)
2011-2014 Bachelor in Visual Arts / Photography, School of Graphic Research (ERG), Brussels (BE)
Prizes / Selections
2024 Belfast Photo Festival, Exhibition, winner (UK)
2023 Prix Jeunes Artistes of the Parliament of Wallonia-Brussels Federation, finalist (BE)
2023 Fintro Prize, Film and Photography category, finalist (BE)
2022 Women Photographers Grant, Phmuseum, special mention (IT)
2022 Paris Photo - Aperture PhotoBook Awards, First PhotoBook, shortlisted (US)
2022 Plat(t)form, Fotomuseum Winterthur, special mention (CH)
2021 LUMA RENCONTRES DUMMY BOOK AWARD ARLES, shortlisted (FR)
2021 MACK First Book Award, shortlisted (UK)
2021 Leica Oskar Barnack Award, Newcomer category, nominated (DE)
2020 Documentary Photography grant, SOFAM, laureate (BE)
2020 .tiff, FOMU, selected (BE)
2020 Horlait-Dapsens Prize, KASK / School of Arts Ghent, laureate (BE)
2020 Kassel Dummy Award, third prize (DE)
2020 reGeneration4, Musée de l’Elysée, selected (CH)
2019 Pitch your photo project, De Donkere Kamer #19, first prize (BE)
2017 Propositions d'artistes, Contretype, selected (BE)
2017 Prix Focale - Ville de Nyon, laureate (CH)
2017 Bourse du Talent #70 Portrait, laureate (FR)
2016 Prix PhotoforumPasquArt, SELECTION|AUSWAHL, laureate (CH)
2016 VFG Nachwuchsförderpreis, finalist (CH)
2016 Festival Voies Off, selected (FR)
Books
2022 The Land of Promises, The Eriskay Connection
Residencies
2023 3331 Arts Chiyoda, Tokyo (JP)
Exhibitions / Projections (selection)
2024 Group exhibition, Quand les images prennent soin, Centre de la Photographie de Genève, Geneva (CH), upcoming
2024 Group exhibition, Belfast Photo Festival, Belfast (UK), upcoming
2024 Group exhibition, Meditations on Love, The Photographers’ Gallery, London (UK), upcoming
2023 Group exhibition, Prix Jeunes Artistes of the Parliament of the Wallonia-Brussels Federation, Brussels (BE)
2023 22nd Biennal Sesc_Videobrasil, São Paulo (BR)
2022 L’image sans nom, Liège (BE)
2022 Group exhibition, Festival de l’Image de Stavelot, Stavelot (BE)
2022 Group exhibition, Les femmes s’exposent, Houlgate (FR)
2022 Group exhibition, European Trails, H2 – Zentrum für Gegenwartskunst im Glaspalast, Augsburg (DE)
2021 Talent Wall, Pennings Foundation, Eindhoven (NL)
2021 Le Mois des Adopté.e.s x MAÏF SOCIAL CLUB, MAÏF Social Club, Paris (FR)
2021 Le Fusée de la Motographie 2.0., Antwerp (BE)
2021 Group exhibition, .tiff #9, FOMU, Antwerp (BE)
2020 Group exhibition, Graduation Show, KASK, Ghent (BE)
2020 Group exhibition, reGeneration4, Musée de l’Elysée, Lausanne (CH)
2020 Group exhibition, Looking for Serendipity, curated by Iris Sikking, KASK, Ghent (BE)
2018 Group exhibition, Childhood, Centre of Contemporary Art, Torun (PL)
2018 Group exhibition, Bourse du Talent 2017, Maison de la Photographie de Lille, Lille (FR)
2018 Group exhibition, Propositions d'artistes 2017, Contretype, Bruxelles (BE)
2017 Group exhibition, Bourse du Talent 2017, Bibliothèque nationale de France, Paris (FR)
2017 Solo exhibition, Prix Focale - Ville de Nyon 2017, Galerie-Librairie Focale, Nyon (CH)
2017 Group exhibition, Bourse du Talent, 7th Dali International Photography Exhibition, Dali (CHINA)
2017 Group exhibition, VFG young talents, Neue Galerie im Höhmannhaus, Augsburg (DE)
2017 Group projection, Des mondes meilleurs, Les Rencontres d'Arles, Espace Nonante-Neuf, Arles (FR)
2017 Group exhibition, VFG young talents, Uno Art Space, Stuttgart (DE)
2016 Group exhibition, VFG young talents, l'ELAC at l'ECAl, Renens (Lausanne) (CH)
2016 Group exhibition, SELECTION|AUSWAHL 2016, Photoforum PasquArt, Bienne/Biel (CH)
2016 Group exhibition, VFG young talents, Oslo 8, Basel (CH)
2016 Group exhibition, VFG young talents, Photobastei, Zürich (CH)
2016 Group projection, Des mondes meilleurs, Festival Images, CEPV, Vevey (CH)
2016 Group projection, Festival Voies Off, Les rencontres d’Arles, Arles (FR)