AUAS appoints Michel Sylla Photographer in Residence

Michel Sylla (1996, France) takes memory as the starting point for his work, about which he says: “Memories are often seen as something that is behind us, but in fact they play an active role in our present. Based on this idea, I started taking photos of all the places I’ve lived and of places that have made an impression on me. I then used 3D software to create my own architecture.”

Every year, a jury from AUAS visits the presentation of the Graduation Show by the Rietveld Academie’s Photography Department. This year, they picked out Sylla. The jury explained its choice as follows: “Michel’s graduation work deals with his own memories, and the jury is very curious as to how Michel can adapt this approach to work with the memories of others. As Michel uses 3D software, the jury also sees exciting possibilities for Michel to join forces with experts from AUAS in this area and develop more innovative ways of re-telling personal stories.”

AUAS has been working on its Photographer in Residence programme with the Gerrit Rietveld Academie since 2015. This programme enables AUAS to present board members with a unique gift when celebrating a jubilee or leaving, as well as to supplement its own art collection with original work from a young artist who trained in Amsterdam. The artist gets an opportunity to reach new audiences. This year, the jury was made up of: Jopie Nooren (Chair of the Executive Board), Gerdi Limonard (Head of the Library), Fernon Longfur (student assessor), Joris van Loon (lecturer), Tamara Witschge (professor) and Lisette Visser (personal assistant to Jopie Nooren).