Armelle Kergall est une photographe plasticienne française.
En 2005, elle commence un travail documentaire sur sa très nombreuse famille. Au fil des rencontres, certaines découvertes la troublent profondément et la poussent à s’interroger :
Que portons-nous consciemment ou inconsciemment en nous ? De quoi héritons-nous ? Commence alors une enquête à travers ses archives familiales qui, associées à ses propres images, deviennent son principal outil de création.
Depuis, ses projets prennent des formes variées : installations, objets détournés, textes et images en volume. Elle intervient directement sur ses tirages en utilisant diverses techniques manuelles—grattage, froissage, collage, tressage, lenticulaire—créant ainsi des œuvres où les époques se répondent et où mémoire intime et collective se rencontrent. Son travail interroge la transmission des souvenirs et le rôle des images dans la construction de l’identité.
Il a été exposé dans de nombreuses galeries et festivals à travers l’Asie. En 2019, elle remporte le KG+Select Public Grand Prize pour son exposition à Kyotographie, « Anatomy of a French Family / Investigation in Progress ». Ses œuvres récentes poursuivent cette exploration, traduisant visuellement les liens entre passé et présent et approfondissant sa réflexion sur l’atavisme et les souvenirs qui nous constituent.
Armelle Kergall is a French visual artist whose work explores identity, atavism and memory through photography.
In 2005 she began a photographic project documenting her very large family. Some discoveries unsettled her deeply and led her to question: What do we carry with us, consciously or unconsciously? What do we inherit? This investigation led her to delve into family archives, which, combined with her own images, became her main creative tool.
Since then, her projects have taken various forms - installations, repurposed objects, texts and three-dimensional images. She directly intervenes on her prints using diverse manual techniques—scratching, crumpling, collage, weaving, lenticular—creating layered compositions where past and present intertwine, and where intimate and collective memory meet. Her work questions the transmission of memory and the role of images in shaping identity.
Her work has been exhibited at numerous galleries and festivals across Asia. In 2019, she won the KG+SELECT Public Grand Prize at Kyotographie for her exhibition « Anatomy of a French Family / Investigation in Progress ». Her recent work continues this exploration, visually translating the links between past and present, and deepening her reflection on heritage and the memories that shape us.
CURRICULUM VITAE
EXHIBITIONS
2024/ Solo Exhibition Olal’Art, Singapore
2023-2024 /American Club, group show, Singapore
2023 /Affordable Art Fair, Olal’art gallery, Singapore
2023 / “Water Impression”-group exhibition, Singapore
2023 / “Transcending time, beyond the past & present”- group exhibition, Singapore
2023 / “Off Shot, collectioneurs”- group exhibition Kyoto
2022/ Solo Exhibition private house, Tokyo
2022 / “Off Shot, collectioneurs”- group exhibition Kyoto
2021/ “Natsukashii”- Solo show at Institut français du Kansai, Kyoto
2021/ “Selfies 1920-2020”- Solo show at DELTA GALLERY, Kyoto
2019/ “Chateaubriand, Ingres & I” Collective exhibition in FOTOFEVER, Paris
2019/ “Anatomy of a French family/ Investigation in progress”
Collective exhibition in Art-U Gallery, Tokyo
2019/ “Ghosts, Spirits & Souls” group exhibition in Shin gallery, Tokyo
2019/ “Anatomy of a French family/ Investigation in progress”
2015/ exhibition of Anatomie d’une famille française at
La Maison de la Photographie de Lille (Fr)
2014/ exhibition of “Anatomie d’une famille française” at BNF François Mitterrand (Fr)
exhibition of Anatomie d’une famille française at Dali Photography festival (Chn)
2010/ exhibition at Révélations 3, Paris (Fr)
2009/ exhibition of “Visite guidée” at Guest House Gallery London (Uk) & Paris (Fr)
AWARDS & PUBLICATIONS
2019 : KG+ SELECT Public Award Grand-Prix
2019 : Selected pour participer à KG+ SELECT(satellite event of Kyotographie) among 12 finalists.
2013 : Winner of the « Bourse du Talent Portrait » for the work Anatomie d’une famille française(Anatomy of a french family)
2017 : Revue 6 MOIS (number 14, fall 2017/winter 2018) 10 pages on the work Anatomie d'une famille française in the section Family Album.
COLLECTIONS
Series Anatomie d’une famille française – collection of BnF (Bibliothèque nationale de France)
EDUCATION
2002 : Ecole Supérieur d’Arts Graphiques (ESAG), Art degree, obtained with very high honors (Mention très bien).
1996 : Baccalauréat littéraire, French secondary school diploma in literature.
WORKING EXPERIENCE
2003-2016 : Commercial photographer in Paris. Specialised in still life (Dalloyau, Balenciaga, Danone) and portrait for the press (Grazia, Marie-Claire Enfants).
akergall@gmail.com