Maëv Benaiche | Photographic Nights of Selma Festival - Photo festival - Alabama

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Maëv Benaiche

« MAGMA »

Biography:

Maëva Benaiche was born in Toulouse, France, in 1996. After earning a two-year degree in Physical Measurements at Paul Sabatier University in Toulouse and pursuing engineering studies, she joined ETPA, a photography school in Toulouse, in 2018, where she was awarded the Grand Prix Photo in 2021.

Her photographic work allows her to express feelings she would be unable to convey through words alone. Photography has become a way for her to explore and understand herself, playing an essential role in her ongoing quest for identity. Her practice is rooted in an exploration of the world and her relationship with it, shaped by her own questions and vulnerabilities.

Since August 2023, she has also been the founder of Premier Exemplaire, an independent magazine dedicated to emerging photography.

France

https://www.maevabenaiche.com/

https://www.instagram.com/instantsuspendus/

MAGMA

I am in a state of perpetual unrest, caught in an in-between space. I want to keep moving forward, yet I cannot fully overcome my stutter.

I sometimes experience this difference as a wound, sometimes as a gift. While it has taught me resilience and awakened a strength I never knew I possessed, it has also forced me to build a shell around myself. A shell that grows stronger with each passing year, becoming increasingly heavy to carry alone.

This is why I photograph, why I turn to this art that André Breton described as “explosante fixe” a fixed explosion. Photography allows me to release the weight of words caught on my tongue and brings to the surface feelings I would be unable to express through speech alone.

I find myself torn between the desire to fight my way through and the need to fully accept myself.

Yet this acceptance is never set in stone. It keeps me in motion, in a state of inner turmoil, and becomes my magma.

This series led to my first photobook, Staccato, published by Light Motiv.