Edited by Xavier Douroux. Interview by Catherine Grenier.
In conversation with Sophie Ristelhueber, whose work borrows the tools and themes of wartime photojournalism, bending to the processes of art
Since her foundational work in the city of Beirut destroyed by the war at the beginning of the 1980s, French photographer and artist Sophie Ristelhueber (born 1949) has developed an engaged reflection on territory and its history through a singular approach to landscape, which she conceives of as a space that carries the traces of major upheavals of human activity and memory. Her work questions the marks left by humanity on the landscape, leaving the stigmata of history visible. Why do we become artists? And how? To what extent are we artists? This volume comprises a comprehensive conversation between Ristelhueber and art historian Catherine Grenier, retracing the artist's atypical journey. Clear-eyed and sincere, her testimony offers a compelling introduction to contemporary art, its aims and its stakes. She evokes the drive of an "inner necessity" that leads her into war-torn territories, keeping pace with conflicts and wounds, in search of traces and scars.
STATUS: Forthcoming | 12/8/2026
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Published by JRP|Editions. Edited by Xavier Douroux. Interview by Catherine Grenier.
In conversation with Sophie Ristelhueber, whose work borrows the tools and themes of wartime photojournalism, bending to the processes of art
Since her foundational work in the city of Beirut destroyed by the war at the beginning of the 1980s, French photographer and artist Sophie Ristelhueber (born 1949) has developed an engaged reflection on territory and its history through a singular approach to landscape, which she conceives of as a space that carries the traces of major upheavals of human activity and memory. Her work questions the marks left by humanity on the landscape, leaving the stigmata of history visible.
Why do we become artists? And how? To what extent are we artists? This volume comprises a comprehensive conversation between Ristelhueber and art historian Catherine Grenier, retracing the artist's atypical journey. Clear-eyed and sincere, her testimony offers a compelling introduction to contemporary art, its aims and its stakes. She evokes the drive of an "inner necessity" that leads her into war-torn territories, keeping pace with conflicts and wounds, in search of traces and scars.
