CATHERINE BALET
Born in 1959, Catherine Balet lives between Paris and the Dordogne. A graduate of the École nationale supérieure des Beaux-Arts in Paris, she began her career as a painter before turning to photography in the early 2000s. This shift marked the beginning of a sensitive visual oeuvre, nourished by a sociological, painterly, and experimental approach.
Her first series, Identity, anchored her practice in contemporary reality through large-format portraits of adolescents. With Strangers in the Light, she introduced a pictorial dimension to her images, borrowing from the chiaroscuro of Old Masters to explore the impact of digital technologies on light.
Between 2013 and 2016, she created Looking for the Masters in Ricardo’s Golden Shoes, a series that questions the legacy of photography’s iconic figures while reflecting on the future of the medium. Reenacting emblematic works from the history of photography, the series is marked by a sharp awareness of ongoing technological and cultural transformations.
In 2017, the series Moods in a Room marked a deliberate return to painting. Through layered textures and materials, Balet pushed the boundaries of photography, blurring the lines between photographic image and painted surface. The play of transparencies, light, and substance deepened an introspective and sensory engagement with time and space.
Since 2021, Catherine Balet has pursued this exploration in the Endless series, capturing nature’s transformations across the seasons. In 2023, she began Albedo, born from the observation of waterways in the Périgord landscape, continuing her dialogue between light, matter, and perception.
In parallel, she founded a research and creation studio in the Dordogne, nestled in a natural setting conducive to experimentation. It is there that she develops her latest series, in a constant interplay between observation, image, and sensation.
Her work has been exhibited across Europe, South America, and Asia. It features in major public collections, and several of her series have been published, notably by Steidl and Dewi Lewis.
SELECTED ARTWORKS
VIDEOS
Ted Forbes • Catherine Balet
Ted Forbes talks about Catherine Balet's series "Looking for the Masters in Ricardo's Golden Shoes". Courtesy of The Art of Photography.
Catherine Balet • Interview by Isabelle Mège
Catherine Balet met with model and performer Isabelle Mège to continue the legendary series of nude portraits she began in 1986.
Moods in a Room • Catherine Balet
A 30-seconds glimpse of a 20 year-long creation process!
PUBLICATIONS
SOLO SHOWS
2025 “Looking for the Masters in Ricardo’s Golden shoes”, Lieu D’Art Contemporain La Mouche, Béziers, France
2025 ”Albedo”, Bigaignon, Paris, France
2022 ”Endless”, Bigaignon, Paris, France
2021 ”Looking for the Masters in Ricardo’s Golden Shoes”, Le Château d’Eau, Toulouse
2020 ”Moods in a Room”, Photo London 2020, Londres
2020 ”Moods in a Room”, Bigaignon, Paris, France
2019 ”Looking for the Masters in Ricardo’s Golden Shoes”, Fola Fototeca Latinoamericana, Buenos Aires
2019 ”Looking for the Masters in Ricardo’s Golden Shoes”, Viborg Kunsthal, Viborg
2018 ”In Vivo ; From Earth With Love”, Noorderlicht Photo Festival, Groningen
2017 ”Looking for the Masters in Ricardo’s Golden Shoes”, House of Photography , Lille, France
2017 Vichy Portrait Festival, Vichy, France
2016 ”Looking for the Masters in Ricardo’s Golden Shoes”, Wroclaw 2016, European Capital of Culture, Wroclaw, Poland
2016 Dali International Photography Festival, PRC
2016 « Wings of Fantasy », Beijing, PRC
2016 ”Looking for the Masters in Ricardo’s Golden Shoes”, Bigaignon, Paris, France
-
2015 Triennal of photography, Hamburg
2015 Noorderlicht Photo Festival, Groningen
2015 Encontros da Imagen, Braga
2015 ”On Paper”, Lucy Bell Gallery, St Leonards
2015 ”Strangers in the light”, Lichtungen, Hildesheim
2015 ”Identity”, Clervaux, Cité de l'image, Luxembourg
2015 Bristol Photobook Festival, Bristol
2015 National portrait Gallery, Londres
2015 The House of St.Barnabas, Londres
2015 Millennium Gallery Museum, Sheffield
2014 ”#Snapshot”, Finnish Museum of Photography, Helsinki
2014 Arte Laguna Prize, Venise
2014 ”Transition”, Y Gallery, Minsk
2013 ”Les Contemplatives”, Espace 111, Paris
2012 ”Strangers in the light”, Festival de la Luz, Museo Provincial de Bellas Artes Franklin Rawson, San Juan
2012 ”Strangers in the light”, Festival de la Luz, Alianza Francesa Sede Central, Buenos Aires
2012 The World in London, Photographers Gallery, Londres
2012 Art Paris, Art Fair, Paris
2012 Madrid foto Art Fair, Madrid
2012 ”Strangers in the light”, Polka Galerie, Paris
2010 ”Identity”, Global Photography, Mestre/Venise
2009 ”Identity”, Global Photography, Si Fest Savignano Immagini Festival, Italie
2009 ”Identity”, Festival international de photographie, Séoul
2008 National Portrait Gallery Talk, Londres
2007 Biennale de photographie, Urbi et Orbi, Sedan
2007 Voies Off, Arles
2007 Galerie photo, FNAC forum‚ Paris
2006 ”Identity”, Kindermuseum in FEZ, Berlin
2006 Galerie Colette‚ Paris
2006 ”Air de Paris’”, Hermès, Paris
GROUP SHOWS
2025 “Disruptions”, présentation de la série “Strangers in the Light”, Centre Culturel Neimenster, Luxembourg
2023 ”Chair de temps”, Bigaignon, Paris, France
2019 ”United”, Bigaignon, Paris, France
2019 ”Art on a Postcard”, PhotoLondon, London, United Kingdom
2018 Troisième biennale Beijing Photo, Beijing, PRC
2018 ”Amoureux”, Hôtel & Spa La Belle Juliette, Paris, France