NAMSA LEUBA
Aside from studying photography at ECAL, SwissGuinean photographer Namsa Leuba also obtained her Master’s degree in Art Direction at the institution. Her portfolio includes published works in various magazines such as The New Yorker, i-D, Numéro, KALEIDOSCOPE, Foam, Interview, Vice Magazine, New York Magazine, Libération, British Journal of Photography, and European Photography.
With a focus on the representation of African identity through a Western vantage point, Leuba’s puts her cultural roots at the forefront of her visual art. She is a winner of various accolades—First Prize at the Festival Planches Contact in Deauville, France (2010), the PhotoGlobal Prize at the International Festival of Fashion and Photography in Hyères, France (2012), and the Flash Forward Festival curated by the Magenta Foundation. She is also a participant in several exhibitions in France, Spain, Denmark, South Korea, Greece, and in the United Kingdom among others.
“In approaching this collaboration around the theme of Eyes in Focus, I wanted to illustrate the nature of emotions hidden in us and that attempt to come through the veil that covers them,” said Leuba. She explores the expression of time through the image of the viewer’s impression of it—through the testimony of their own experience. To achieve this, she brings to light, by the extension of the image between the black and white photographic technique and the colorful background frame, the expression of the present moment. This duality is a direct reflection of her bi-cultural heritage. She, therefore, contrasts the passage of the lived moment with memory through the abstract and multi-faceted character of the work.
Leuba couldn’t be happier to be part of the exhibition, “I was happy when La Prairie approached me with this commission. There is something timeless that could be linked with my work, maybe also the sobriety and discretion.”