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Marché nocturne, Glo-Djigbé

2016

Pascal MAITRE

Photography

120 x 180 cm

Print on Fujiflex paper

As the winner of the AFD Polka Award in 2016, Pascal Maitre was invited to exhibit twenty-five photographs from his series “Quand l’Afrique s’éclairera” at the Maison Européenne de la Photographie, from the 8th of November 2017 to the 7th of January 2018. This exhibition was curated by Alain Mingam.

“Everyone has seen at some point these impressive satellite images made of the superposition of photographs taken at night with a clear sky, showing the nocturnal emission of light at the surface of Earth. It reveals, in contrast with other geographical areas, that Africa is dark, except for a few patches of light. And yet this continent has major resources that would allow the generation of electricity on a large scale. This paradox lies at the heart of years of work by Pascal Maitre.” © MEP Paris

Pascal MAITRE

France

Born in 1955

Born in Buzançais, France, in 1955, Pascal Maitre is a photojournalist specialising in Africa. After studying psychology, he began his career in photojournalism in 1979 for the magazine Jeune Afrique. In 1984, he joined the Gamma photo agency. In 1989, he co-founded Odyssey Images. He is currently represented by Cosmos Agency.

Pascal Maitre has worked for many prestigious international publications: Géo, Paris Match, Figaro Magazine, L’Express, and ELLE in France, Géo and Stern in Germany, and National Geographic in the United States. Having travelled in more than forty countries, Pascal Maitre focuses on different aspects of Africa: men and their lifestyles, politics, conflicts, and traditions. He has been covering Afghanistan since 1985: Mujahideen fighting Russians, Kabul in 1992, Bamiyan and the monumental statues of Buddha in 1996, Commander Massoud in 1988, etc. Although Africa is still his working field of choice, Pascal Maitre has also produced photo-essays on other areas of the world: Middle East, South America, and Siberia, to name but a few.