Brazilian artist Silvana Mendes is in Paris for a two-month residency at the Diaphane centre, where she is developing the project Studio Affectographique. The initiative creates a mobile photographic studio aimed at encounters with Black people, in which photography acts as a catalyst for dialogues on representation, self-image, and collective memory. The work will culminate in a series of photographic publications and prints that will be incorporated into the collection of the Bibliothèque nationale de France (BnF).

“More than simply making portraits, I want to create a space for listening and exchange, where photography serves as a tool to reflect on identity, memory, and visibility,” Mendes states in the project.

In parallel, the artist is also part of the programme for the 22nd edition of the Photaumnales Festival, which runs from September to December 2025 in Amiens and other cities across the Hauts-de-France region. From this Monday, 6 October, at the UFR des ARTS – Université de Picardie Jules Verne (UPJV), some works from her series Afetocolagens will be on display. In this series, Mendes revisits and reconstructs visual narratives of Black people through Brazilian colonial photography from the 19th century, particularly the vast archive of portraits produced by photographer Alberto Henschel.

Mendes was recently awarded first prize in the 14th edition of the Prix Photo de l’Alliance Française, which secured her current residency in Paris, organised in partnership with Diaphane. Her simultaneous presence at the Photaumnales Festival and in the Paris residency reinforces her research into photography as a critical language and a space for reconstructing narratives.