
ABOUT

Illustration: Dido Lusamba for Patrick Willocq
BIOGRAPHY
Born in 1969 in Strasbourg.
Lives and works between Paris, Hong Kong and Kinshasa.
A self-taught photographer, Patrick Willocq had a midlife rebirth. It was a return trip to Congo (where he grew up) in 2009 that made him quit the professional activities he had been carrying out for twenty years in Asia, in order to devote himself fully to photography, a thirty-year commitment.
Patrick draws on his imagination the art of metamorphosing reality with poignant scenes in the image of his deep humanist convictions. With the subject entirely part of his creative process, he practices an aesthetic never devoid of ethics. In all his carefully composed performative stagings, entirely constructed in situ rather than created on Photoshop, he sends messages that pass through a participatory theatricality. His artistic practice is a hybrid between ethnology, sociology, performance, installation, video and photography.
Since 2012, he has been nominated for or chosen as a finalist or winner of multiple prestigious international awards, including SFR Jeunes Talents de Paris Photo 2012, Prix Photo de l’Agence Française de Développement 2012, Prix Découverte des Rencontres d’Arles 2014, Prix Coup de Coeur HSBC pour la Photographie 2016, Sony World Photography Awards 2016, Prix Niepce 2017, Leica Oskar Barnack Award 2014 and 2017.
His works have been exhibited at Paris Photo, AIPAD New York, Context Art Miami, Photo Basel, Joburg Art Fair, the Louisiana Museum of Modern Art in Copenhagen, the Tel Aviv Museum of Art and the Bibliothèque Nationale de France. It has also been featured in numerous TV broadcasts and publications, including CNN Amanpour, Arte, France 5, TV5 Monde, The Huffington Post, The Guardian, Stern, Polka, Le Monde and Paris Match.
Patrick is co-author, with director Florent de La Tullaye, of a 52-minute documentary film, Le Chant des Walés, broadcast on the television channel France 5 with a preview at the Musée de l’Homme in Paris at the end of 2016.
Patrick is represented by the galleries Clelia Belgrado Vision Quest in Genoa, Project 2.0 in La Haye, and Clémentine de la Feronnière in Paris.
SOLO EXHIBITIONS
2018
-
Foundation Manuel Rivera Ortiz, Arles, France
-
PhEST International Art and Photography Festival, Monopoli, Italy
-
Gallery Vision Quest, Genoa, Italy
2017
-
The Copper House Gallery, Dublin, Photo Ireland
-
Art500, Chateau de Saint-Martory, France
-
Project 2.0 / Gallery, The Hague, The Netherlands
-
AKAA African At Fair, Gallery Vision Quest, Paris, France
-
UN headquarters in New York, USA
-
International Photography Festival Beijing, China
-
Guernsey Photography Festival, Guernsey
-
Lagos Photo Festival, Nigeria
-
Institut Français de Bamako, Mali
-
Castello d’Albertis, Museo delle Culture Del Mondo, Genova, Italy
-
Institut Français de Kinshasa, DR Congo
-
Itinéraires des Photographes Voyageurs, Bordeaux, France
2016
-
Lagos Photo Festival, Nigeria
-
PhotoLux Festival, Lucca, Italy
-
Vision Quest Gallery, Genova, Italy
-
Galerie Baudoin Lebon, Paris, France
-
Post Tenebras Lux, Baux de Provence, France
-
Fotofestiwal, Lodz, Poland
-
Format International Photography Festival, Derby, UK
-
Festival des Peuples Autochtones, Kinshasa, DR Congo
2015
2014
-
Lagos Photo, Nigeria
-
Rétine Marseille, France
-
Encontros da Imagen, Braga, Portugal
-
Les Rencontres d’Arles, France
-
Ozwald Boateng, London, UK
-
Flash Forward, Boston, USA
-
MAC, Créteil, France
2013
-
Photo OFF, Paris, France
-
Angkor Wat Photo, Angkor, Cambodia
-
Lagos Photo, Nigeria
-
Agence Française de Développement, Paris, France
-
Institut Français de Kinshasa, DR Congo
-
FEPN, Arles, France
-
Les Photographes Voyageurs, Bordeaux, France
-
Circulation(s), Paris, France
2013
GROUP EXHIBITIONS
-
Photo London, Gallery Vision Quest, Genoa
-
Arte Fiera di Bologna, Gallery Vision Quest, Genoa
-
Northern Life, Nuku Festival, Accra and Tamalé, Ghana
-
Festival Nicéphore+, Clermont Ferrand, France
-
Art The Hague, Project 2.0/Gallery, Netherlands
-
AKAA African At Fair, Gallery Vision Quest, Paris, France
2018
2017
-
Art The Hague, Project 2.0 / Gallery, The Netherlands
-
Leica gallery, Berlin, Germany
-
Leica Gallery, Paris, France
-
Noorderzon Performing Art Festival Groningen, The Netherlands
-
Dali International Photo, China
-
Photo Basel, Gallery Vision Quest, Switzerland
-
Multimedia Art Museum, Moscow, Russia
-
Skin, Gallery Vision Quest, Genoa, Italy
-
Art Paris Art Fair, Galerie Baudoin Lebon, France
-
La Maison Populaire de Montreuil, Paris, France
-
CENTER Santa Fé, USA
-
Photolucida Critical Mass, Portland, USA
2016
-
Art Fair Cologne, Germany
-
The Center for Fine Art Photography, Fort Collins, Colorado, USA
-
Photo Docks Art Fair, Lyon, France
-
Fiera di Bologna, Italy, Vision Quest gallery
-
Tel Aviv Museum of Art, Tel Aviv, Israel
-
Prix HSBC pour la Photographie, Esther Woerdehoff Gallery, Paris, France
2015
-
Miami Context Art Fair, Miami, USA
-
Louisiana Museum of Modern Art, Copenhaguen, Denmark
-
AIPAD, New York, galerie baudoin lebon
-
Fiera di Bologna, Italy, galerie Vision Quest
-
La Bourse du Talent, MEP Lille, France
-
GRID, Cape Town, South Africa
-
La Bourse du Talent, Bibliothèque Nationale de France, Paris, France
-
Paris Photo, SFR 10 years anniversary, Paris, France
-
Addis Foto Fest - POPCAP, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
-
Festival Internacional de Fotografia de Cabo Verde - POPCAP, Cabo Verde
-
Cape Town Month of Photography – POPCAP, Cape Town, South Africa
-
Eyes On, European Month of Photography – POPCAP, Vienna, Austria
-
Image Afrique, POPCAP, Basel, Switzerland
-
Joburg Art Fair, galerie baudoin lebon
-
Nuit de la Photo, La-Chaux-de-Fonds, Switzerland
-
Schau Dortmund (nominated by Martin Parr), Dortmund, Germany
-
Kolga Tbilisi Photo, Tbilisi, Georgia
2014
-
Portrait(s), Vichy, France
-
International Photography Festival, Belo Horizonte, Brazil
2012
-
Paris Photo, SFR Jeunes Talents
AWARDS AND RECOGNITIONS
2017
-
Nominated Prix Niepce
-
Finalist Leica Oskar Barnack Award
2016
-
Finalist Photolucida Critical Mass
-
Nominated to Prix Pictet
-
Professional shortlist in Portraiture at the Sony World Photography Awards
-
Prix Coup de Cœur HSBC pour la photographie
-
1st Place Exhibitor's Choice Award, CENTER Santa Fé
-
Winner “Dreams” The Center for Fine Art Photography
2015
2014
-
Nominated to the Discovery Award Arles
-
Nominated to the Deutsche Börse Photography Prize
-
Finalist Leica Oskar Barnack Award
-
Winner La Bourse du Talent Portrait
-
Winner POPCAP prize
-
Finalist Renaissance Photography Prize
-
Finalist Lens Culture New Talent Award
-
BJP the Ones to Watch in 2014
2013
-
Finalist Lens Culture Exposure Award
-
Winner International Photographer Competition, Viewpoint Gallery, Canada
2012
-
Winner of the best AFD photo reportage
-
Winner SFR Jeunes Talents Paris Photo
INTERNATIONAL PRESS
-
Vanity Fair, Italy
-
Internazionale, Italy
-
Vrij, The Netherlands
-
Snoeck, Belgium
-
Foam Magazine, The Netherlands
-
ArtNet News, USA
-
Le Soir, Switzerland
-
Zoom, Italy
-
Il Fotografo, Italy
-
Regardez voir, France Inter Radio, France
2018
2017
2016
- Chaeg Korea
-
Beaux Arts
-
Geo Magazine
-
British Journal of Photography
-
The Sunday Times (pdf)
-
La Repubblica
-
Il Fotografo
-
Lens Blog New York Times
-
British Journal of Photography
-
De Morgen
-
VSD
-
Another Africa
-
Libération
-
Marie Claire Spain
-
Gente di Fotografia
-
DOC Magazine Poland
-
L’Illustré
2014
-
Stern Germany
-
6 Mois
-
Images FNAC
-
Arts Magazine
-
Beaux Arts
-
Photo
-
Polka
-
Leica LFI
-
Marie Claire Italy
-
Marie Claire Taiwan
-
Marie Claire Hong Kong
-
Marie Claire Korea
-
Marie Claire Greece
-
Marie Claire Roumania
-
Marie Claire Czechoslovakia
2013
-
Libération
-
Réponses Photo
-
TV5 Monde News March 7th
-
Polka
-
Ouest France
BOOK
-
Songs of the Walés – Publisher Kehrer Verlag
PUBLICATIONS
-
HUTS – World Press Photo Japan
-
The Documentary Impulse – Stuart Franklin, Phaidon Press
-
Family Photography Now – Stephen McLaren, Thames and Hudson
-
Fotopraxis mit Perspektive, Erfolgreiche Projekte und ihre Macher – Martina Mettner, Fotofeinkost Verlag
TV DOCUMENTARY
-
Le Chant des Walés, a 52 mns TV documentary. Co-author with Director Florent de La Tullaye. Nynamor Films. With France Télévisions. Broadcasted 8 times in October 2016 and June 2018 on French TV FR5
BIOGRAPHY
Born in 1969 in Strasbourg.
Lives and works in The Hague, The Netherlands
A self-taught photographer, Patrick Willocq had a midlife rebirth. It was a return trip to Congo (where he grew up) in 2009 that made him quit the professional activities he had been carrying out for twenty years in Asia, in order to devote himself fully to photography, a thirty-year commitment.
Best known for telling stories of people through surreal performative images produced in collaboration with them, Patrick draws on his imagination the art of metamorphosing reality with poignant scenes in the image of his deep humanist convictions. With the subject entirely part of his creative process, he practices an aesthetic never devoid of ethics. In all his carefully composed performative stagings, entirely constructed in situ rather than created on Photoshop, he sends messages that pass through a participatory theatricality. His artistic practice is a hybrid between ethnology, sociology, performance, installation, video and photography.
Since 2012, he has been nominated for or chosen as a finalist or winner of multiple prestigious international awards, including SFR Jeunes Talents de Paris Photo 2012, Prix Photo de l’Agence Française de Développement 2012, Prix Découverte des Rencontres d’Arles 2014, Prix Coup de Coeur HSBC pour la Photographie 2016, Sony World Photography Awards 2016, Prix Niepce 2017, Leica Oskar Barnack Award 2014 and 2017.
His works have been exhibited at Paris Photo, AIPAD New York, Context Art Miami, Photo Basel, Joburg Art Fair, the Louisiana Museum of Modern Art in Copenhagen, the Tel Aviv Museum of Art and the Bibliothèque Nationale de France. It has also been featured in numerous TV broadcasts and publications, including CNN Amanpour, Arte, France 5, TV5 Monde, The Huffington Post, The Guardian, Stern, Polka, Le Monde and Paris Match.
Patrick is co-author, with director Florent de La Tullaye, of a 52-minute documentary film, Le Chant des Walés, broadcast on the television channel France 5 with a preview at the Musée de l’Homme in Paris at the end of 2016.
For contacts and representation, please go to Contact page.
ESSAYS



"Patrick Willocq: A New Photographic Challenge"
by Alain Mingam



SOLO EXHIBITIONS
-
I BeKoZ YoU, Act 1 - The Phair, Gallery Vision Quest 4rosso Contemporary Photography, Turin, Italy
-
I BeKoZ YoU, Act 1 - KunstRAI Art Fair Amsterdam, Gallery Project 2.0, The Netherlands
-
I BeKoZ YoU, Act 1 - Gallery Project 2.0, The Hague, The Netherlands
2022
-
Songs of the Walés, Centre d'Art Contemporain d'Istres, France
2021
-
Au coeur de l'Afrique, Un autre regard - Baker Mc Kenzie Paris, France
-
Songs of the Walés, Hangar Art, Brussels, Belgium
2020
-
Museum of Photography, Charleroi, Belgium
-
Jungle exhibition, Manga, DR Congo
2019
-
Foundation Manuel Rivera Ortiz, Arles, France
-
PhEST International Art and Photography Festival, Monopoli, Italy
-
Gallery Vision Quest, Genoa, Italy
-
The Copper House Gallery, Dublin, Photo Ireland
-
Art500, Chateau de Saint-Martory, France
-
Project 2.0 / Gallery, The Hague, The Netherlands
-
AKAA African At Fair, Gallery Vision Quest, Paris, France
-
UN headquarters in New York, USA
-
International Photography Festival Beijing, China
-
Guernsey Photography Festival, Guernsey
-
Lagos Photo Festival, Nigeria
-
Institut Français de Bamako, Mali
-
Castello d’Albertis, Museo delle Culture Del Mondo, Genova, Italy
-
Institut Français de Kinshasa, DR Congo
-
Itinéraires des Photographes Voyageurs, Bordeaux, France
-
Lagos Photo Festival, Nigeria
-
PhotoLux Festival, Lucca, Italy
-
Vision Quest Gallery, Genova, Italy
-
Galerie Baudoin Lebon, Paris, France
-
Post Tenebras Lux, Baux de Provence, France
-
Fotofestiwal, Lodz, Poland
-
Format International Photography Festival, Derby, UK
-
Festival des Peuples Autochtones, Kinshasa, DR Congo
-
Lagos Photo, Nigeria
-
Rétine Marseille, France
-
Encontros da Imagen, Braga, Portugal
-
Les Rencontres d’Arles, France
-
Ozwald Boateng, London, UK
-
Flash Forward, Boston, USA
-
MAC, Créteil, France
-
Photo OFF, Paris, France
-
Angkor Wat Photo, Angkor, Cambodia
-
Lagos Photo, Nigeria
-
Agence Française de Développement, Paris, France
-
Institut Français de Kinshasa, DR Congo
-
FEPN, Arles, France
-
Les Photographes Voyageurs, Bordeaux, France
-
Circulation(s), Paris, France
2018
2017
2016
2015
2014
2013
GROUP EXHIBITIONS
-
I BeKoZ YoU, Act 1 - North Sea Jazz Festival, Rotterdam, Gallery Project 2.0, The Netherlands (July)
2022
-
Tra la Conchiglia e la Stella, Quattro Fotografi in Africa, Palazzo Grillo, Gallery Vision Quest 4rosso Contemporary Photography, Genoa, Italy
2021
-
Haute Rotterdam, Gallery Project 2.0, the Netherlands
2020
-
Afropolitan, BOZAR, Brussels, Belgium
-
Photo London, Gallery Vision Quest, UK
-
AKAA African At Fair, Gallery Vision Quest, Paris, France (November)
2019
-
Photo London, Gallery Vision Quest, Genoa
-
Arte Fiera di Bologna, Gallery Vision Quest, Genoa
-
Northern Life, Nuku Festival, Accra and Tamalé, Ghana
-
Festival Nicéphore+, Clermont Ferrand, France
-
Art The Hague, Project 2.0/Gallery, Netherlands
-
AKAA African Art Fair, Gallery Vision Quest, Paris, France
2018
2017
-
Art The Hague, Project 2.0 / Gallery, The Netherlands
-
Leica gallery, Berlin, Germany
-
Leica Gallery, Paris, France
-
Noorderzon Performing Art Festival Groningen, The Netherlands
-
Dali International Photo, China
-
Photo Basel, Gallery Vision Quest, Switzerland
-
Multimedia Art Museum, Moscow, Russia
-
Skin, Gallery Vision Quest, Genoa, Italy
-
Art Paris Art Fair, Galerie Baudoin Lebon, France
-
La Maison Populaire de Montreuil, Paris, France
-
CENTER Santa Fé, USA
-
Photolucida Critical Mass, Portland, USA
2016
-
Art Fair Cologne, Germany
-
The Center for Fine Art Photography, Fort Collins, Colorado, USA
-
Photo Docks Art Fair, Lyon, France
-
Fiera di Bologna, Italy, Vision Quest gallery
-
Tel Aviv Museum of Art, Tel Aviv, Israel
-
Prix HSBC pour la Photographie, Esther Woerdehoff Gallery, Paris, France
2015
-
Miami Context Art Fair, Miami, USA
-
Louisiana Museum of Modern Art, Copenhaguen, Denmark
-
AIPAD, New York, galerie baudoin lebon
-
Fiera di Bologna, Italy, galerie Vision Quest
-
La Bourse du Talent, MEP Lille, France
-
GRID, Cape Town, South Africa
2013
-
La Bourse du Talent, Bibliothèque Nationale de France, Paris, France
-
Paris Photo, SFR 10 years anniversary, Paris, France
-
Addis Foto Fest - POPCAP, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
-
Festival Internacional de Fotografia de Cabo Verde - POPCAP, Cabo Verde
-
Cape Town Month of Photography – POPCAP, Cape Town, South Africa
-
Eyes On, European Month of Photography – POPCAP, Vienna, Austria
-
Image Afrique, POPCAP, Basel, Switzerland
-
Joburg Art Fair, galerie baudoin lebon
-
Nuit de la Photo, La-Chaux-de-Fonds, Switzerland
-
Schau Dortmund (nominated by Martin Parr), Dortmund, Germany
-
Kolga Tbilisi Photo, Tbilisi, Georgia
2014
-
Portrait(s), Vichy, France
-
International Photography Festival, Belo Horizonte, Brazil
2012
-
Paris Photo, SFR Jeunes Talents
AWARDS AND RECOGNITIONS
2018
-
Nominated to Prix Pictet
-
Longlist Kraszna-Krausz Book Award
2017
-
Nominated to Prix Niepce
-
Finalist Leica Oskar Barnack Award
2016
-
Finalist Photolucida Critical Mass
-
Nominated to Prix Pictet
-
Professional shortlist in Portraiture at the Sony World Photography Awards
-
Prix Coup de Cœur HSBC pour la photographie
-
1st Place Exhibitor's Choice Award, CENTER Santa Fé
-
Winner “Dreams” The Center for Fine Art Photography
2015
-
Winner GUP magazine anniversary competition
-
Winner Grand Prix Fotofestiwal Lodz
2014
-
Nominated to the Discovery Award Arles
-
Nominated to the Deutsche Börse Photography Prize
-
Finalist Leica Oskar Barnack Award
-
Winner La Bourse du Talent Portrait
-
Winner POPCAP prize
-
Finalist Renaissance Photography Prize
-
Finalist Lens Culture New Talent Award
-
BJP the Ones to Watch in 2014
2013
-
Finalist Lens Culture Exposure Award
-
Winner International Photographer Competition, Viewpoint Gallery, Canada
2012
-
Winner of the best AFD photo reportage
-
Winner SFR Jeunes Talents Paris Photo
INTERNATIONAL PRESS
2022
-
Woth Magazine, the Netherlands
-
Den Haag Centraal, the Netherlands
-
De Residentie, the Netherlands
-
Gup Magazine, the Netherlands
-
Huck Magazine, United Kingdom
2020
2019
-
Connaissance des Arts, France
-
ELLE Deco, France
-
The Art Newspaper, France
-
Arts in the City, Belgium
-
Tijd, Belgium
-
Le Soir, Belgium
-
LM Magazine, Belgium
-
La Libre.be, Belgium
-
Flux New, Belgium
-
RTBF, Belgium
-
UNESCO courier
2018
-
Vanity Fair, Italy
-
Internazionale, Italy
-
Vrij, The Netherlands
-
Snoeck, Belgium
-
Foam Magazine, The Netherlands
-
ArtNet News, USA
-
Le Soir, Switzerland
-
Zoom, Italy
-
Il Fotografo, Italy
-
Regardez voir, France Inter Radio, France
2017
-
Polka Magazine #39
-
Libération
-
Radio France Inter Babel Sur Seine
-
Radio Nova
-
Dienacht magazine, Germany
-
Fotomen, China
-
Causette, France
-
NPCI, Korea
-
Pasatiempo, USA
-
UNESCO courier
2016
- Chaeg Korea
-
Beaux Arts
-
Geo Magazine
-
British Journal of Photography
-
The Sunday Times (pdf)
-
La Repubblica
2015
-
Il Fotografo
-
Lens Blog New York Times
-
British Journal of Photography
-
De Morgen
-
VSD
-
Another Africa
-
Libération
-
Marie Claire Spain
-
Gente di Fotografia
-
DOC Magazine Poland
-
L’Illustré
2014
-
Stern Germany
-
6 Mois
-
Images FNAC
-
Arts Magazine
-
Beaux Arts
-
Photo
-
Polka
-
Leica LFI
-
Marie Claire Italy
-
Marie Claire Taiwan
-
Marie Claire Hong Kong
-
Marie Claire Korea
-
Marie Claire Greece
-
Marie Claire Roumania
-
Marie Claire Czechoslovakia
2013
-
Libération
-
Réponses Photo
-
TV5 Monde News March 7th
-
Polka
-
Ouest France
TV DOCUMENTARY
-
Le Chant des Walés, a 52 mns TV documentary. Co-author with Director Florent de La Tullaye. Nynamor Films. With France Télévisions. Broadcasted 8 times in October 2016 and June 2018 on French TV FR5
BOOK
-
Songs of the Walés – Publisher Kehrer Verlag
PUBLICATIONS
-
HUTS – World Press Photo Japan
-
The Documentary Impulse – Stuart Franklin, Phaidon Press
-
Family Photography Now – Stephen McLaren, Thames and Hudson
-
Fotopraxis mit Perspektive, Erfolgreiche Projekte und ihre Macher – Martina Mettner, Fotofeinkost Verlag
CALENDAR
-
Rainforest Foundation Norway - Calendar 2022