Photography lovers have two days left to check out an exhibition that pays tribute to a revolutionary French art movement of the fifties that came to be known as the New Wave.
Titled Nouvelle Vague, French photographer and filmmaker Chantal Stoman’s solo exhibition at La Galerie Paris 1839 in Central is a layered, immersive narrative that fuses cinema, fashion, and urban memory.
As part of the French May Associated Program, the exhibition ends tomorrow.
As an homage to the French New Wave – the 1950s film movement that rejected traditional storytelling in favor of existential and documentary-style narratives – Nouvelle Vague transcends photography, becoming a medium of cinematic storytelling using still frames. The exhibition brings together selected works from Stoman’s celebrated series: Nouvelle Vague, Visiting Paris, Tokyo Trip, Copacabana, New Orleans, and Suntory. These projects span continents, cultures, and moods, yet together they read like chapters of a single visual novel.
A signature of Stoman’s work is her use of fashion accessories – a pair of glasses, a handbag, a shoe, a hat. But these are not commercial showcases. They are narrative tools. “The accessory is not the center of the image,” she explains. “It’s just another element in the visual storytelling.”
Her past as a fashion photographer – a career she began before pivoting to art in 2005 – subtly informs her aesthetic.
This meticulous visual construction reveals not only relationships between characters but also how individuals perceive themselves and are perceived by others.
“My photographs are an in-depth observation of the relationship between people, intimacy, and places – what they reveal about their own culture,” Stoman says.
In collaboration with Alliance Francaise de Hong Kong, two of her films have been screened during the exhibition: LA LA END, set in Los Angeles, and Omecitta, which was filmed in Japan. The films reflect her deep engagement with the cultural and cinematic identities of cities.
Stoman, who has exhibited internationally – including in Tokyo, New York, Paris, Phnom Penh and Jerusalem – made her Hong Kong return following her participation in The Hong Kong Jockey Club Series, Noir and Blanc – A Story of Photography, in collaboration with the French National Library, at M+ in 2024.
Alongside the exhibition, Stoman is working on a new documentary titled Le Cantique de l’Oiseau, focused on birds in the urban environment.
La Galerie Paris 1839 has long served as a bridge between global visual culture and Hong Kong’s vibrant art scene. Founded in 2014 by Marie-Florence Gros and Cyril Delettre, the gallery is known for championing photography and print work with strong narrative and conceptual depth.
The exhibition is open from 11am until 7pm.
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