Naïma Lecomte has been awarded the Young Photographic Creation Jury Prize at the Planches Contact festival in Deauville, France, for her documentary photography work exploring the banks of the Touques River. Her series, titled "Ce qui borde" (What Borders), presents a contemplative journey along the waterway that separates the coastal towns of Trouville and Deauville.
"Before starting the residency, I had never been to Normandy," explained Lecomte. "I told myself that I needed to find a subject that would allow me to discover a territory I didn't know." Armed with her film camera, the photographer decided to follow the course of the Touques, a river that originates in the Orne department and has helped shape the identity of the cities it flows through.
Lecomte's approach emphasized organic exploration rather than systematic documentation. "The idea wasn't to exhaust the subject and walk along all the banks of the Touques, but rather to let myself be carried along at the pace of walking, discovering places as I went," she said. Her photographs frequently feature certain locations, particularly Lisieux and Pont-l'Évêque, where she developed connections with local residents.
"I met people who had habits along the Touques riverbank. Without warning them, when I returned during my residency, I could encounter them again," Lecomte noted. This spontaneous approach allowed her to document everyday encounters and scenes while fostering genuine human connections. "For me, it's also a way to open discussions, to meet people. Often, the territory leads me to the lives of the people who inhabit it."
Lionel Charrier, co-artistic director of the festival, praised this year's selection, calling it "a very good vintage." Three other photographers also received recognition alongside Lecomte. Anaïs Ondet was honored for her project "Les filles d'ici, celles qui n'ont pas peur du calme" (The Girls from Here, Those Who Aren't Afraid of Calm), which continues her work in rural environments to offer alternative representations far from clichés.
Ondet focused on young women living in intermediate zones that are neither fully urban nor entirely rural. "These were sometimes chance encounters, in their social spaces like football stadiums, parties, sporting events... They allowed me to encounter the territory," she explained. Her approach captured their daily lives, questions, and aspirations. "What struck me when I arrived was the calm. Meeting them, I realized they weren't bored, they weren't afraid of the calm."
Jérémy Appert received recognition for his series "Nexus," which explores the cult of the muscled body and the relationship between humans and machines. "I became interested in the link between man and machine, the figure of the cyborg," he explained. "At a time when muscle is becoming obsolete, where production lines are automated, I found that gyms were this place where man unites with the machine. All to respond to societal issues of desire, conformity, but also transcendence."
Appert's work presented both a visual and technical challenge, as he pushed his camera to its limits just as the gym machines push bodies to their extremes. His black and gray images create a fascinating aesthetic that Charrier described as having "exceptional rendering."
The fourth laureate, Simon Bouillère, explored football and its popular roots, starting from the history of soule, the Norman ancestor of football, and extending to the story of Le Havre's club and others in the region. "Football arrived through the port, brought by English sailors. In my project, I therefore started from the port, following a container, to bring us to the stadium parking lot," the photographer explained.
Bouillère was particularly interested in football's "deep social imprint," photographing not only the stadium surroundings but also the territory in which it exists. He noted the contrast with modern stadiums built more on the periphery, less open to neighborhoods, while also capturing the Pont-l'Évêque tribune "to photograph traces of life outside match moments, true spaces of sociability."
The exhibitions featuring all four photographers' work are on display at Les Franciscaines until January 4th. Admission prices are set at 13 euros for general admission, 8 euros for subscribers, and 5 euros for youth and solidarity rates. A ballot box has been installed at the end of the exhibition at Les Franciscaines, allowing visitors to vote for their favorite young talent.
