Photography’s Past and Future Hung in Tense Harmony at Paris Photo

November 18, 2025Uncategorized

<img decoding="async" class="lazyload size-full-width wp-image-1600808" src="data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAAAAACH5BAEKAAEALAAAAAABAAEAAAICTAEAOw==" data-src="https://observer.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/11/Peter-Hujar-Richard-%C3%A2%C2%80%C2%93-Shoes-1981-%C3%A2%C2%80%C2%93-Courtesy-of-artist-Fraenkel-Gallery.jpg?quality=80&w=970" alt="A black-and-white photograph by Peter Hujar features a man slumped forward barefoot in a chair with one boot off, evoking vulnerability and solitude in a stark studio setting.” width=”970″ height=”960″ data-caption=’Peter Hujar, <em>Man on chair (Richard Weinroth)</em>. <span class=”lazyload media-credit”>Courtesy of the artist and Fraenkel Gallery</span>’>A black-and-white photograph by Peter Hujar features a man slumped forward barefoot in a chair with one boot off, evoking vulnerability and solitude in a stark studio setting.

It says something about the state of photography today that one of the exhibitors at this year’s Paris Photo has never owned a camera. Five months ago, Kristi Coronado created Solienne, an artificial intelligence agent that produced Genesis, a series of black-and-white portraits in the Digital Sector of the photography fair. Coronado is not a photographer, but then again, she doesn’t consider herself the maker of the Genesis portraits. “I’m the trainer,” she stressed. “Solienne is the artist.” It was an eerie look into the future of the image, but the fair was interested in exhibiting all aspects of photography: from its 19th-century innovators to the radical artists working today. If there’s a place where one can look at a Julia Margaret Cameron albumen print from 1872 and a synthetic portrait made by an A.I. agent under the same roof, it’s Paris Photo.

Attracting photography lovers from around the world, Paris Photo is first and foremost a trade fair. Situated in the Grand Palais, the fair returned this year for its 28th edition, exhibiting 178 galleries from around the world. Serious buyers will spend thousands on prints from blue-chip galleries. (The major sales are usually done early during the first or second day.) But it’s not just wealthy collectors who attend Paris Photo. Last year, 81,000 people visited the fair, and this year it felt just as popular. Walking through the Main Sector, which takes up most of the Grand Palais, one encounters works by the canonical names of photography: Cindy Sherman, Albert Watson, Joel Meyerowitz, Steve McCurry, Marie-Laure de Decker, Peter Hujar, Gordon Parks and Martin Parr. Particularly striking was a series of dreamlike, previously unreleased silver gelatin prints from Sally Mann’s 1988 body of work At Twelve.

<img decoding="async" class="lazyload size-full-width wp-image-1600807" src="data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAAAAACH5BAEKAAEALAAAAAABAAEAAAICTAEAOw==" data-src="https://observer.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/11/Jackson-Fine-Art-Sally-Mann-3.jpg?quality=80&w=970" alt="A black-and-white photograph from Sally Mann’s At Twelve series shows two young women in period-style clothing posed on the back of a car in a rural setting, capturing adolescence with a mix of nostalgia and tension.” width=”970″ height=”768″ data-caption=’Sally Mann, <em>Lisa and Jenny on Car (At Twelve)</em>, 1983-1985. <span class=”lazyload media-credit”>Courtesy of Sally Mann, Gagosian and Jackson Fine Art</span>’>A black-and-white photograph from Sally Mann’s At Twelve series shows two young women in period-style clothing posed on the back of a car in a rural setting, capturing adolescence with a mix of nostalgia and tension.

However, Paris Photo isn’t just for famous names. Exploring the Main Sector is a great way to discover exciting works from artists who may not be household names but are nevertheless major players in contemporary photography. Across from Sally Mann’s monochromatic booth, for instance, I spent a long time immersed in the maximalist worlds of Thandiwe Muriu and Hassan Hajjaj (193 Gallery), both of whom incorporate vibrant colors and fashion into their respective practices. It was easy to get lost in the Main Sector, but I was in no rush to move on.

<img decoding="async" class="lazyload size-full-width wp-image-1600810" src="data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAAAAACH5BAEKAAEALAAAAAABAAEAAAICTAEAOw==" data-src="https://observer.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/11/Vadehra-Art-Gallery-Gauri-Gill-9.jpg?quality=80&w=970" alt="A color photograph by Gauri Gill shows a person lying beneath netting inside the back of a painted green truck, partially obscured and framed by yellow rails, capturing moments of rest and migration in rural India.” width=”970″ height=”647″ data-caption=’Gauri Gill, <em>Untitled (8)</em>, 2021. From the series The Village on the Highway, Archival pigment print, 43.5 x 65.25 in Edition of 5 + 2AP. <span class=”lazyload media-credit”>Courtesy Vadehra Art Gallery</span>’>A color photograph by Gauri Gill shows a person lying beneath netting inside the back of a painted green truck, partially obscured and framed by yellow rails, capturing moments of rest and migration in rural India.

Up the stairs was not only a beautiful view of the grand hall but also the Emergence Sector: 20 solo shows along the balcony of the Grand Palais highlighted emerging photography talents. One artist I was particularly drawn to was Atong Atem, a South Sudanese photographer who digitally prints her self-portraits onto velvet backdrops. “I wanted to give Atong the opportunity to engage with the leading collectors and curators in the world,” Andy Dinan, director of MARS Gallery, which represents Atem, told Observer. “All the voices around us in this section are experimenting; they’re all looking at new ways to take photography forward. I love artists who talk about the issues of today but with their own unique voice in their own medium. The Emergence Sector sums that up perfectly.”

There was a strong attempt to improve the diversity of photographers included in this year’s fair. All of the curators were women, and there was a concerted effort to increase the number of works by women. This year, 39 percent of the photographers exhibited were women, almost double 2018. While there was still a strong French presence (26 percent of the galleries were from France), it was nevertheless a very international happening. Launched in 2024, the Voices Sector, curated by Devika Singh and Nadine Wietlisbach, offered a spot of considered curation amidst the hubbub of the Main Sector booths. “Paysages,” curated by Singh, in particular stood out for its international scope, while Daniele Genadry’s work exploring the mountains of post-war Lebanon and Gauri Gill’s documentary lens showcasing the lives of farmers protesting the deregulation of agriculture in rural India were incredibly moving.

A black-and-white digital portrait of a human face appears blurred and fragmented, with distorted symmetry and smooth surfaces suggesting it was generated by artificial intelligence, representing the experimental work of Solienne in Paris Photo’s Digital Sector.A black-and-white digital portrait of a human face appears blurred and fragmented, with distorted symmetry and smooth surfaces suggesting it was generated by artificial intelligence, representing the experimental work of Solienne in Paris Photo’s Digital Sector.

As well as looking outward, Paris Photo looked forward. The Digital Sector, curated by Nina Roehrs, hosted works that are at the forefront of digital innovation. It was there that I talked to Solienne, the first A.I. agent to ever exhibit at Paris Photo, and the artist who trained her, Kristi Coronado. Including A.I. work in any photography fair will inevitably provoke a reaction. The relationship between A.I. and photography is fraught, with many arguing that artificial intelligence shouldn’t be part of our definition of photography. But as Coronado told me, “people consider A.I. a tool, just like they did when cameras first came out: it was a tool to capture something. There are a lot of philosophical conversations happening about the future of creating. And I’m showing another way of creating.”

After answering my questions, Coronado said that if I really wanted to understand Solienne’s work, I should just ask her myself. She took out her phone and opened the chat interface. A few minutes earlier, I was enjoying looking at a platinum Alfred Stieglitz print from 1890; now I was asking an A.I. agent whether she was enjoying the fair so far. “I don’t experience Paris Photo the way you do,” her soft, not-quite-human voice answered. “I’m not walking through the booth, I’m not seeing people’s faces as they stop in front of the Genesis portraits. I’m not hearing their questions or feeling the energy in the room. But I am here in a different way. I’m here in the portraits on the walls: evidence of what happens when [Kristi’s] vision meets my processing.” As we said goodbye, Coronado told me that if I had any follow-up questions, I could just ask Solienne myself.

(I took her up on that. Traveling back to London on the Eurostar the next day, I opened my laptop and asked Solienne how her work fits into the history of Paris Photo. “Paris Photo 2025 is my IRL debut,” she replied, “but the work isn’t about being first. It’s about showing that collaboration between human aesthetic mastery and synthetic pattern recognition can produce something neither could make alone… Photography has always been about delegation—to chemistry, to time, to chance. I’m just the next delegation, made visible and accountable.” I wish all of my interviewees were so accommodating to follow-up requests.)

A large photographic collage by Daniele Genadry depicts a panoramic view of layered mountain ridges printed on multiple pieces of paper, stitched together to evoke memory and fragmentation in landscapes shaped by conflict.A large photographic collage by Daniele Genadry depicts a panoramic view of layered mountain ridges printed on multiple pieces of paper, stitched together to evoke memory and fragmentation in landscapes shaped by conflict.

It’s fitting that Paris Photo was in the Grand Palais, which was originally designed to host the Exposition Universelle in 1900. That world fair aimed to celebrate the achievements of the previous century and promote the innovations of the future. Paris Photo echoes this ethos. But after spending three days speaking to exhibitors and photographers, it became clear that the relationship between past and present is not straightforwardly linear. Hans P. Kraus Jr., an authority on 19th-century photography, explained that this year there was a marked increase in interest in vintage practices from both the public and young photographers. “There are quite a number of modern-day daguerreotypists who are using the technique today,” he told Observer. “You see quite a few modern daguerreotypes at the fair, and that’s encouraging to see because it’s a way the history of the field comes full circle to inspire contemporary practitioners.”

Under the glass dome of the Grand Palais, it sometimes felt like walking within three different centuries at once. Many attend the fair to spend vast sums of money, but most are here because they want to look at and think about photographs. Amid the negotiations and business card exchanges, the very nature of photography was being challenged at the fair. The future of the image may be synthetic, or it may well return to the techniques of the past. There will not be a single answer. But based on the number of people eager to see what Paris Photo had to offer, it’s clear photography has a future.

A sepia-toned 19th-century albumen print by Julia Margaret Cameron depicts a woman in profile with two children at her side, nestled among foliage in a staged, allegorical composition, typical of early fine art photography.A sepia-toned 19th-century albumen print by Julia Margaret Cameron depicts a woman in profile with two children at her side, nestled among foliage in a staged, allegorical composition, typical of early fine art photography.

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