Mahaut Azéma

Mahaut is a French photographer and filmmaker based in Paris. She graduated with a Master's degree in Photo/Video from the École nationale supérieure des Arts Décoratifs in 2025.

Prioritizing a field investigation approach, Mahaut develops a colorful documentary visual style that blends writing, photos, films, archival research, and sound recordings.

As a primary documentation tool, the portrait allows her to establish a collaborative process of engagement with her protagonists. This horizontal perspective goes beyond a simple contemplative stance and is rooted in building lasting connections with the people she meets. It is essential for conveying socially and historically engaged content. Her work explores the representation of peripheral cultures and the forms of resistance and visibility that emerge from a shared colonial heritage between the West, Africa, and Latin America.

Nourished by thirteen years of dance practice, she spent the last three years in Rio de Janeiro, working with the Free Dance School of Maré, directed by choreographer Lia Rodrigues. In 2024, she directed Gira Passista, which premiered at the Museum of Modern Art in Rio. Her photographic series from the film was shown in Istanbul at the 212 Photography Istanbul festival in 2025 and at the M.U.R in Saint-Étienne in 2024.

She has been working freelance since 2023 in set design workshops for museum commissions and as a self-taught photographer and videographer for private or public commissions.