Table ronde — Photographie de mode et archives : la seconde vie des images et la construction des représentations féminines

On the occasion of Paris Photo and the exhibition « PENN & FASHION », the MEP is offering a round table devoted to the links between fashion photography, archives and the construction of female identities. Conceived and moderated by Giorgia Basch, exhibition curator, publisher and founder of BilderAtlas, the discussion will bring together Nathalie Herschdorfer, director of Photo Elysée and a specialist in the history of fashion photography, and Rita Lino, visual artist whose work explores identity and self-representation through photography and performance.

Fashion photography has long played a central role in shaping representations of women and femininity. But what becomes of these images once they leave their original context to enter museum collections, publications or new artistic practices? How does their meaning evolve, and what influence do they continue to exert on the images produced today?

By bringing together the history of fashion imagery and archive theory, the discussion will place the representation of female subjectivity at the heart of the reflection. It will question the visual narratives that are preserved, those that are challenged, and the ways in which they are reinterpreted and recirculated.

The round table will approach the archive not merely as a place of preservation, but as an active space of interpretation and creation. It will explore how exhibition curators, artists and art directors appropriate existing materials, transform their meaning and draw on their visual languages to develop new ones.