WHO IS LEONIE STOLBERG
BIOGRAPHY
Léonie Stolberg was born in the suburbs of Paris. From nursery and primary school she understood that she had an affinity with the world of art: music, drawing, singing, dance and photography as well as writing.
She is a great multidisciplinary enthusiast. Throughout her schooling, she won several drawing and writing competitions and staged herself; she enjoyed taking pictures of herself "with whatever she had at hand" and opened a self-portrait blog.
When others go on vacation, she does internships in the world of photography: with photographer Juliette Agnel as an assistant or with Hervé Sauvage, a set designer for Hermès in particular. She is now sure of what she wants to do with her life: be an artist.
" As a photographer, curator, and researcher, I develop projects at the crossroads of visual art, education, and social engagement.
I create and organize exhibitions, workshops, artistic meetings and training courses focused on the profession of photographer and model, making it a point of honor to address the technical, artistic and legal aspects of the field.
My personal practice is part of a profound reflection on the representation of bodies, particularly nude ones, and what it reveals about our society, its norms, its taboos and its collective narratives.
I believe in art that is accessible, caring, and meaningful. It is this conviction that guides each of my projects, where transmission, collaboration, and a sensitive perspective are at the heart of the approach."
Léonie has always been socially excluded. "My schooling was hell. At school, my classmates insulted me and spat on me every day. They were mean because I was different."
To escape this hell, her parents sent her to continue her secondary education at the Saint Luc Institute in Tournai. It was a great discovery, and in her first year, she won an image prize in a school photo competition. At boarding school, she took pictures of her friends in their bedrooms and began to develop a passion for body photography. During school breaks, she took advantage of the empty studio to photograph classmates who wanted to confide in her lens.
It was also this year that Léonie encountered her greatest enemy: censorship. The school even went so far as to prohibit her from exhibiting during open days.
Today, Léonie serves as a reference for students wishing to work on the theme of the body and sexuality.
This reinforces her decision to persevere despite the censorship and hate speech she continues to face.
At 18, she graduated with the highest honors from her school and decided to enroll at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Brussels. She was greatly disappointed by the rejection she received from the institution's teaching staff. She then decided to launch herself as an independent artist.
Since then, she has had numerous exhibitions and projects such as the creation of a non-profit organization/gallery to help artists bring their projects to fruition and a committed and humorous column on Radio Campus de ULB which she runs under the name "L'Odalisque Contemporaine".
EXHIBITIONS AND PRIZES
March 2024
Sweet paradise exhibition for the Déculottée Paris event
February 2024
Exhibition at the Magh space and publication in the Magh magazine.
December 2023
Exhibition / Market for UMI
November 2023
Exposure to Kalme
Permanent exhibition at the peep art gallery
July 2023
Residency and exhibition for the bachelor pad prod with homographia
June 2023
Exhibition at the ERG GALERIE space
May 2023
Exhibition at TheSorority event, at the fertile city, Paris
February 2023
Permanent ILLegaaL exhibition in pairs with Esteban Moulin
February/March 2023
Permanent exhibition in Liège at La maison ARC-EN-CIEL
Occasional exhibition “Witches fest”
November 2022
- PINK SCREEN festival exhibition at the cinema gallery (Queen's gallery)
- Permanent exhibition Cinéma Nova project “I love you” (November 10 to 19)
June / September 2022
- Open film exhibition Studio Baxton
- Exhibition at Place Fernand Cocq at Contrabande.
- One-off exhibition of the “Masturbate Brain” series for a special “UFO or naked” evening
May 2022
Occasional exhibition with Synergy at Jane's located in the Chatelain district.
March 2022
- Exhibition from March 5 to 11 during the Women's Rights Week in the Lafourmilère gallery
- Exhibition from March 3 to 15 Brussels Rue Blaes Galerie Thatswhatxsaid
February 2022
- Permanent exhibition at The Theory Store Ixelles Flagey Brussels
- Collective exhibition at L'ERG on the theme "Love" ERG - graphic research school
October/November 2021
Individual exhibition with the non-profit association KCTM at See U "alternative cultural center of Brussels" where I invite: The sound of desire, Wi_cul-pédia, Camille Bataillon, The school of strings..
September 2021 until X
Permanent exhibition Brussels Rue Blaes Thatswhatxsaid Gallery
September 25/26, 2021
Collective exhibition at Kilomètre25, Paris-La Villette
May/June 2021
Collective exhibition, Paris Beaubourg LGBTQI+ Center
March 2021
Permanent publication in the ARTFABETIC artist dictionary
January/February 2021
Pop Up exhibition on rue Haute at Reservoir, Brussels
December 2020
Photographic documentation collaboration as part of the PH exhibition - the Philips pavilion at the Beaux-Arts, Brussels
September 2020
Grand Place Brussels exhibition and live performance
Corona cancellation March/April/May/June/July/August
- “Bad Genre” Festival Belgium
- Festival “A vos Art” Paris
- “Generation” exhibition London
- Artistic interventions in schools: Tournai, Les Beaux Arts de Besançon, ULB Brussels
- Exhibition “Who says better”: Tournai, Brussels, Liège
January/February 2020
- Permanent exhibition The Blaes 70 art gallery
- Creation of workshops with make up artists and various brands
December 2019
Exhibition at Reservoir, rue Haute, Brussels
November 2019
Exhibition at the Tournai Feminist Festival
December 2018
Photographic documentation collaboration as part of the PH exhibition - the Philips fine arts pavilion, Brussels
November 2018
Participation in the Art’Fact#3 exhibition
March-April 2018
Participation in the Métamorphose exhibition at the Musée de la Chasse et de la Nature, Paris
In parallel with the exhibition by Gérard Garouste which is inspired by the myth of Diane and Actéon and in collaboration with the School of Culture Management and the Paris Art Market
February 2018
Collective creation of a video montage on the 8th Quartet by Dimitri Shostakovich for an evening dedicated to the Russian composer as part of the 16th edition of the European Intimate Voices Festival. Video projected as part of the evening in the theater of the Saint-Luc institution and relayed on the news by Belgian television on February 24.
November 2017
Participation in the Dreams and Nightmares Exhibitions organized by New Art Génération, at Epitech, School for Computing and New Technologies, and at the Bistrot des artistes, Paris
March 2017
Winner of second prize in the competition organized by MRAX
My pen against racism
Competition supported by Isabelle Simonis, Minister of Equal Opportunities of the Wallonia-Brussels Federation, Marie-Martine Schyns, Minister of Education of the Wallonia-Brussels Federation and Philippe Courard, President of the Parliament of the Wallonia-Brussels Federation
January 2017
- Exhibition of photographs taken in the Pardon Maman boutique in Paris at the International Lille Tattoo
- Convention 2017 (27, 28 and 29), Grand Palais
2016
- City of Tournai, art center. Choice of a selection of my photographs for the official website of the city
- Participation in the exhibition Who says better?
- Personal project selected during the competition open to young artists. Collective and traveling exhibition in Wallonia. Exhibition in Brussels, Liège and Mons and auction
Internship with Hervé Sauvage, Set designer, Paris
Assistance in setting up and carrying out projects for various clients in the world of luxury and fashion: creation of a showcase for jewelry designer Lynda Courteille for Fashion Week and production of an advertisement for Hermès , 2011
Internship with the photographer artist Juliette Agnel, Paris
Support on the “les éblouis” project 2012
Post-production assistant in the Janvier Laboratory, Paris and on Final Cut for the TRAM project slideshow
Assistant during Marie Doguer's shooting session for the advertising agency Mondadori for the magazine Science & Vie Junior
Model for shooting session
