Born in 1993 on the night of a typhoon in La Réunion, Lewis Joly is a french documentary photographer based between Arles and Paris. In 2011, he left his island to move to France and studied at the Icart Photo School (Paris). In 2013, in parallel with his studies, he began his professional life collaborating with various media and press agencies such as the JDD, Associated Press, Le Monde, Libération, Sipa Press, Bild, The Times… For over ten years, he has been documenting current events in France and abroad: the migration crisis in Europe, the Paris attacks in 2015, the clashes in the Gaza Strip in 2018, the crisis in Lebanon, the Covid-19 pandemic in France…
Laureate of the BNF’s Grande Commande Photojournalisme, he returns to work on his island for the first time in 2022. For several months, he explored the isolated paths of the Cirque de Mafate, the heart of Reunion’s Creole history and culture. This work has been exhibited at the BNF during the “La France sous leurs yeux” exhibition, at the Gare d’Austerlitz and at the Ver-Voir festival (Peru). At the same time, he produced a Polaroid
series entitled Zarlor (Creole for treasure), which marked a turning point in his photographic practice and approach to portraiture. This project was a finalist for the Prix Révélation SAIF x la Kabine 2024 at the Rencontres de la photographie d’Arles.
Lewis work now balance between editorial assignments and long term personal projects with a post documentary approach.
Where the wind fades into foam, a man steps forward, drawn by the call of the open sea. He brushes against the water, confronts it and abandons himself to it. The sea shapes faces, hollows out gazes, etches skin with its salt. It embraces, escapes, promises vertigo, inhabited silence.
Having grown up on the water’s edge in the heart of the Indian Ocean, I’ve always been fascinated by the silent dialogue between man and the open sea. A bond woven of attraction and respect. This series is the dance of a tightrope walker, a real voyage on the edge of a dream.
Portfolio from the Produce a photographic series workshop with Gregory Halpern, February 2025.
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