TITLE: Way of beings

These photos, not staged, propose a sensitive experience. We forge bonds with the animals of the city, whether they are alive, statues, stuffed animals... whether they are free, caged or preserved. This unexpected closeness in an environment that is not their natural habitat reveals their condition and our own. What interests me is observing their existence because it questions our own notion of territory and the way we coexist together. In my eyes, their presence appears to represent the absurdity of our city life. Their loneliness is the same as ours, could the city be considered our own zoo?
Indeed, it illustrates a modern myth, to believe that we could live separate from nature. We are a species like any other. The monkey, the fish, the tree are from my family. I feel it deeply.

AUTHOR: Samir Belkaid (France)

French-Algerian photographer I was born in 1972. I grew up in Algiers then moved to Paris. After completing a degree in media studies at the ETPA (Ecole de Technicien Polyvalent en Audiovisuel) in Rennes (France), I began to work as technical coordinator of the Grand Gallery of Evolution at the National Museum of Natural History in Paris. I then redirected my career towards creative TV and radio sound design. Since the early 2000s, my work has been entirely devoted to street photography.

Exhibitions
2020 : Narratives from Algeria collaborative exhibition, Photophorum Pasquart, Biel/Bienne, Switzerland
2020 : "The illusion of reality", Nuits photographiques de Pierrevert
2020 : If I were..., participative exhibition, Institut pour la photographie, Lille
2016 : Mont-Blanc Photo Festival, Saint-Gervais et aux Contamines-Montjoie (74)
2014 : "Palliative care, if I had known...", Galerie Fait & Cause, Paris
2013 : "The bucolic urban", Strasbourg-Rendez-vous image
2013 : "Alzheimer's, forgetting the sea", Strasbourg-Rendez-vous image

Awards
2021 : Honorable mention, MonoVisions photography awards, series "Way of beings"
2020 : 3rd Black and white category, Paris international street photo awards, series "Once upon a time maybe not"
2020 : Honorable mention, MonoVisions photography awards, series "The illusion of reality"
2019 : Finalist, Maghreb Photography Awards, photo documentary "Algeria: political evolution, pacific revolution"
2019 : Short list, Felix Schoeller Photo Award, photojournalism / editorial photography, "Algeria: political evolution, pacific revolution"
2019 : Short list, Felix Schoeller Photo Award, portrait, "A closer look", portraits of people with mental health issues (APAJH 78-Yvelines, France)
2019 : Finalist, Urban Photo Awards, series "The last shore"
2019 : Finalist, 2019 Fun Photographer of the year
2016 : 1st prize, Mont-Blanc Photo Festival, Mountain and men
2014 : Finalist of the Sophot contest. Photo doc about palliative care
2013 : 1st prize ex aequo, Strasbourg-Rendez-vous image, artistic director Jane Evelyn Atwood, photo doc "Alzheimer's, forgetting the sea"