Isabelle Detournay
Born in Tournai (Hainaut, Belgium) in 1974, Isabelle Detournay lives in Brussels. Today, she teaches photography in both cities (ARBA-ESA, ACT).
In the ’90s, while working as a social worker, she began studying photography at ENSAV-La Cambre in Brussels. As a photographer, she is interested in social issues, both in Belgium and abroad (notably in the USA and India).
Winner of the national Photographie ouverte prize (Musée de la Photographie, Charleroi) in 2000, Prix jeunes Artistes du Parlement de la Communauté française in 2007, she has exhibited at the MAMAC – Liège, the Botanique, the Centre Wallonie Bruxelles (Paris), as well as in a number of marginal but no less attractive venues.
Here Isabelle continues her exploration of groups that she is slowly getting to know via the photographic medium. She will win the Prix de la Quinzaine Photographique Nantaise in 2018 for this series on young people in a vocational mechanics class in Brussels-City.
In 2022, her first feature-length documentary “Pendant que Nicoleta travaille” (prod AJC-Gsara) was selected for various festivals in Belgium and abroad. It won the Prix France Télévision for Best First Film at the Créteil Women’s Film Festival (F). The film combines video, photography and intimate voice-over writing.
His book on the Majorettes was published in 2008 by Editions Husson. In 2017, “La Classe A008” will be published by “Le Bec en l’Air” (Marseille). In 2023, ARP2 éditions will publish “Familiarités”, a special edition based on his personal childhood. This edition is the result of a collaboration with the Musée des Beaux-Arts de Tournai (B), which is exhibiting his work from June to November 2023.