Self-taught French photographer Patrick Willocq has lived and worked 34 years in diverse cities throughout his career, including Kinshasa, Shanghai, Hong Kong and Paris. In 2012, and following a trip back to the Democratic Republic of Congo (where he grew up), Patrick decides to devote himself entirely to photography (he was working for multinationals in Asia Pacific for over 20 years).
His artistic work is about documenting the world we live in through carefully composed performative images in collaboration with local communities, thereby offering a different image of the world, which go beyond images which media tend to focus on. In his several series in DR Congo, he takes his images far from the usual hackneyed and clichéd depiction of the country and bring a fresh interpretation of Africa. In his latest project "The Art of Survival", images depict the experiences, fears and hopes of refugee children through an innovative theatrical treatment, bringing a fresh approach to humanitarian story telling. He builds all his sets in the middle of the bush or camps, mostly with materials found locally, without Photoshop montage or collage, and chooses to involve the communities he works with, co-creating visual representation of their own stories. He uses all his personal life experiences to express his inner world, a world in which he persists in wanting to show the vitality of a happy humanity, but also a world where imagination transforms the harsh conditions of reality. All this to achieve the goal of his artistic journey: self-discovery.
In the series “On the Road from Bikoro Bokonda” (2012) and “The old colonial villas of Mbandaka” (2012 and 2013), he humorously refer to a tradition of ethnographic photography, which he happily twists.
In “I am Walé Respect Me” (2013 and 2014) and “Forever Walé” (2014), female subjects depict their return to society through the lyrical narrative of their isolation.
In “Walé, 2ème Regard” (2015) he portrays the Walé motherhood ritual in ornate colour and intimate proximity.
“The Art of Survival” (2016), commissioned by Save the Children, is his latest project where he depicts what it’s really like to be a refugee child by staging their experiences and hopes.
Since 2012, his work has been nominated, finalist or winner of 12 prestigious international awards including SFR Paris Photo 2012, Leica Oskar Barnack Award 2014, Discovery Award Rencontres d'Arles 2014, Sony World Photo Awards 2016, Prix Coup de Coeur HSBC for Photography 2016.
His work continues to attract the attention of the jury of international festivals, while the international press continues to publish his work: CNN, The Huffington Post, The Guardian, Paris Match, Stern…
Since 2014, Patrick is represented by galerie baudoin lebon in Paris and Vision Quest in Genoa with respective solo shows in 2015. Group exhibitions include Context Art Miami, AIPAD New York, Artefiera di Bologna, Joburg Art Fair, Louisiana Museum of Modern Art Copenhagen, Tel Aviv Museum of Arts, La Bourse du Talent Bibliothèque Nationale de France, Paris Photo SFR.
