Leading figure in contemporary photography, Pierre-Elie de Pibrac embraced his passion very early on. It was notably through the work of his grandfather, Paul de Cordon, and a trip to NYC in 2005, that this Frenchman, born in 1983, decided to make photography his profession. Self-taught and a graduate of EDHEC, he learned, read, went out into the field and assisted big names such as Denis Darzacq, Claudine Doury and Rip Hopkins. Recognition soon followed.

With an innate ability not to confine himself to a single photographic genre, he enjoys telling a multitude of stories. With an innate ability not to confine himself to a single photographic genre, he enjoys telling a multitude of stories. To explore the realm of possibilities, Pierre-Elie de Pibrac’s aim is to get as close as possible to the cultures he chooses. Camera in hand and family under his arm, he immerses himself in each of the countries he photographs.

In Cuba and then Burma in 2007, his first photo-reports earned him awards and led to him joining the agency Vu’. In 2010, in New York, he created his first major series “American Show Case”, followed by “Real-Life Superheroes”. In this series, he interviews passers-by, questioning their lives and behaviors. Their dreams too. Already, he develops what will become his trademark: beyond the subject, he enhances the image, and invents new concepts to create his own language.

Then will come the Opéra de Paris dancers in Confidences, Catharsis and Analogia in 2013-2015, where he once again immerses himself in the life of the company and backstage. In 2016 and 2017, 8 months in Cuba, through the prism of sugar, gave birth to “Desmemoria” and “Guajiros” (Levallois Prize 2018). hen, in Japan in 2019 and 2020, he directed “Hakanai Sonzai” (Taylor Wessing Photographic Portrait Prize of the National Portrait Gallery). A work that tackles Japanese sensitivity for the ephemeral and impermanence of things.

But, in an answer to the evolution of the artistic world, Pierre-Elie de Pibrac also explores the realm of NFTs. A format that he inaugurated in 2021 by digitizing some of his most eminent works.