Picto Foundation has announced the 24 finalists for the 26th edition of the Picto Prize for Fashion Photography.

4 graduates of the Bachelor Photographe et Vidéaste program are among this selection: Clara Belleville (class of 2017), Marine Leroy (class of 2023), Sasha Mongin (class of 2017) and Yama Ndiaye (class of 2023).

Discover their work below, selected from over 200 international entries.

"Clara Belleville's "Summer Tale

Through her work, Clara Belleville depicts everyday, suspended moments. She has been published in Fisheye magazine for her " Explicite " series, a "memoir of her twenties" made during her studies, and in Vogue Italia for her " Mélodie d'été " series, made between 2014 and 2018.

She also published a book with Stromboli Editions in 2022 based on her project " Entre nous ", shot in the privacy of herself and those around her between 2013 and 2020, and for which she was selected as one of the finalists for the 2022 edition of the Hyère Festival.

With " Conte d'été ", Clara Belleville combines spontaneous staging and photography to depict simple, everyday moments.

"I'm interested in moments devoid of crucial instants, which by their emptiness give beings all their importance. At those moments when what matters is not the action taking place, but the force of the present, which exists like an eternity".

Clara Belleville

"On the Edge" by Marine Leroy

Just graduated, Marine Leroy is now a Fashion, Beauty and Still Life photographer. She has notably worked for the Bulgari and Les Néreïdes brands.

Her graduation project,"Seum issue", is a declaration of love to "seum", that very French feeling of frustration, in the form of an A3-format fashion magazine.

"On the Edge", a series mixing fashion, beauty and still life, is extracted from this project. It questions the meaning and purpose of this Arabic expression that has become part of everyday language.

" When something doesn't work out the way you'd imagined or planned and it's really frustrating. Then you've got the jitters! But is it really a problem? Can't it be beautiful? "

Marine Leroy

"Beyond the curtain" by Sasha Mongin

Sasha Mongin began her photographic career in Sanghai, shooting series on the rise of China's middle class .

Recognizable for her treatment of color and light and an aesthetic that transcends reality, she has worked for Persée Paris, Air France Magazine and Maison Sara Chraïbi.

In 2023, her " Mythes " and " Ecrin " series ,which overturn the classic " man-subject, woman-object ", werepresented at Galerie M 's" Nouvelles masculinités " exhibition. She has also begun a series on mourning entitled " Le Mourant Qui Ne Mourrait Pas. "

The photos in " Beyond the Curtain " were taken backstage at Fashion Week shows over the past two seasons by Louis-Gabriel Nouchi, Alphonse Maitrepierre, Victor de Weinsanto, Sara Chraibi, Cho Cheng, Ruo Han and Benjamin Benmoyal .These shots capture the effervescence of this very special world backstage at a fashion show.

" I deliberately chose to mask the distinctive backstage elements and their unattractive decorum, to explore the boundaries between backstage reality and the fashion imagination, and better highlight the intensity of the models' emotions just before they enter the stage. They then inhabit their characters and the designers' creations, present but already elsewhere."

Sasha Mongin.

"Nataal" by Yama Ndiaye

A graduate of GOBELINS in 2023, Yama Ndiaye 's work straddles the border between fashion photography and the visual arts, bringing together staging, field photography and archival images . She also explores different printing techniques.

Through her personal projects, she explores themes of family, identity and memory, diasporic identities and her dual Franco-Senegalese cultural heritage.

In Wolof, " nataal "means both " Image " and " Origin ". Through this documentary project, Yama Ndiaye explores the role of photography in the construction of black identities in Africa .

" The Nataal project is an introspective series created between Senegal and France, within which I create intimate images relating the various observations and sensations felt during my time spent in Senegal. Memories and the imaginary intermingle, giving way to images with multiple readings."

Yama Ndiaye

The awards ceremony will take place on June 5 at the Palais Galliera, Musée de la Mode de Paris.