For its second participation in the Emergence sector of Paris Photo, DS Galerie presents Conversations, a project by Brandon Gercara first brought to wider attention at the Rencontres d’Arles in 2025. Developed through encounters with members of sexual and gender minorities on Réunion Island, Conversations brings together five photographs and the personal testimonies gathered by the artist. Rather than directly documenting the people they met, Brandon Gercara embodies their stories through drag characters, creating a space for visibility while preserving their anonymity.
“Vizibilizé san révélé” — to make visible without revealing. This phrase in Réunion Creole encapsulates the project: drag becomes a means of translation, lending a body, a presence, and an image to narratives that are often marginalized. Photography is no longer approached as evidence or as a means of capturing reality, but as a space for transmission, fiction, and repair. At Paris Photo, the five photographs are presented together alongside their accompanying testimonies, while a monumental wallpaper derived from one of the images transforms the space of the booth.
Previously shown in institutional contexts and in installation-based formats, the photographs are presented here for the first time as limited-edition, framed prints. With Conversations, DS Galerie continues its commitment to artists who approach photography as a critical space for shaping and transmitting contemporary narratives.