Caroline Abitbol

Caroline Abitbol was born in Paris, where she spent her childhood and has spent the greater part of her life.

In her teens, she managed with enthusiasm her school’s photography lab. She then pursued scientific studies, culminating in a masters in audiovisual studies. In between, at the age of nineteen, she was drawn to the desert and spent three months living there, which were perception pivotal in developing her spiritual perception.

Upon her return, she decided to involve herself in the world of the image, initially by selecting films for festivals and working as a projectionist for a travelling cinema, later by collaborating on several magazines. Little by little, she began to focus on photography as her principal means of expression. Between 1985 and 1990, she met, worked for, and developed friendships with Marc Riboud, Henri Alekan and Édouard Boubat. These experiences reinforced her passion for photography, for light, for poetry. Her gaze never ceases to question the body, space, and light, in particular through her work on painters in their studios in 1989, on the Cameroons in 1990, with dancers at the Opéra Garnier from 1992 to 1995, on Bali in 1995, and on India from 1995 to the present.

Collaborations with the agency SIPA from 1987 to 1991 and with the agency Top- Rapho from 1991 to 2003 served to introduce her to the world of photography. She made her first short film, Lina Màlina, based on photographs, in 2013. It was projected at the Musée de Montparnasse in Paris, at the Institute of Philosophy in Naples, at Prata Sannita, at the Festival of Political Thought in Pozzuoli, and at the Women’s Film Festival in Créteil. In 1995, she discovered India, and has since spent frequent and long stays there, notably in Benares, in Bengal, and in the Himalayas, all providing material for reflection. She lived for several months in Calcutta, where she met Mother Teresa in 1996, then in the valley of the Himalayas, and from 2005 to 2010 by the banks of the Ganges.

Caroline Abitbol lives and works in Paris.