Rubis Group endowment fund for artistic and social projects

OF SOUL AND JOY – SOUTH AFRICA The @ofsoulandjoy project extends its transformative work into rural KwaZulu-Natal! From 26 March to 6 April 2025, 6 Of Soul and Joy photographers and mentors, including 4 former students, travelled to Nkandla, in the rural region of KwaZulu-Natal, to provide some thirty young people with photography skills. Initially based in the township of Thokoza (Johannesburg), the photography mentoring project initiated a two-week program focusing on visual storytelling, both as an artistic practice and a potential career path. The Nkandla-based program also presents a unique opportunity for OSJ alumni to serve as mentors, completing the full circle of education, leadership, and empowerment. These workshops apply the project’s pedagogy centered around empowerment through art, and bring essential creative skills to rural areas, where educational and employment opportunities for young people are often limited, and where creative education can transform individuals and whole communities. © Fuwe Molefe #rubismecenat #photography #southafrica #ofsoulandjoy

SUPPORT FOR ARTISTIC CREATION – GRANT FOR FRENCH CARIBBEAN AND AMAZONIAN CONTEMPORARY CREATION Don’t miss out on Jordan Beal’s solo show at the unRepresented salon by @approcheparis (April 4-6, Paris). A French photographer from Martinique, Jordan Beal (@danbeal_) is the first laureate of the grant for French Caribbean and Amazonian creation, launched by Rubis Mécénat, @lastationculturelle and unRepresented by @approcheparis. As a photographer exploring the boundaries of the medium, Jordan Beal develops a body of work where the image becomes a space for a sensitive experience of the island territory. His approach seeks to go beyond the artificial divide between nature and culture. By deliberately damaging his negatives and prints through the action of corrosive substances and fluids, notably seawater, he moves towards a rupture with the idea of a sovereign human subject to reveal the essence of the image. Anchored in his “island-ness,” his work explores the notions of horizon and relationship. Through various interventions, Jordan Beal co-constructs hybrid works with non-human agents, challenging traditional perspective and inviting a multi-layered reading of the landscape. For unRepresented, Jordan Beal presents a selection of images from his Corrosion series, initiated during a residency at Tropiques Atrium. These altered photographs, where elemental motifs emerge, reveal a space where temporalities overlap, where the elsewhere and the here intertwine. Crédits : Grégory Copitet / Jordan Beal #rubismecenat #supportforartisticcreation #artpatron #artcurator #artprofessionnals #frenchartscene #frenchartist #artproduction

SUPPORT FOR ARTISTIC CREATION – RUBIS MECENAT PRIZE Rubis Mécénat is pleased to announce the laureate of the 5th edition of the Rubis Mécénat Prize in partnership with the @beauxartsparis: Liselor Perez! She will receive critical support from Julia Marchand (@marchand.julia), guest curator of this new edition, and production assistance to create an original artistic installation to be presented at Saint-Eustache church (@eglisesainteustache) in Paris in October 2025. Liselor Perez (@iszor) is a fifth-year student in the studio of Dominique Figarella. Her artistic practice blends sculpture, textiles and performance, where she explores intimacy and identity through sculptural bodies, often made of worn fabrics. Her work questions the porosity between being and environment, between memory and transformation. For her project at Saint-Eustache church, the artist will intervene in various parts of the church, presenting an ensemble of bodies and single figures blending into the architectural patterns of the church. — Since 2021, the Rubis Mécénat Prize in partnership with the @beauxartsparis provides a student from the school with production aid and essential support for the development of an original artwork within the historic @eglisesainteustache in Paris. — Credits: Portrait of Liselor Perez © Clara Duflot / Petite lampe © Liselor Perez #rubismecenat #supportforartisticcreation #contemporary art #artpatron #artcurator #artprofessionnals #beauxartsdeparis #artproduction #prixrubismecenat

RUBIS MÉCÉNAT IN WORDS - TRANSMISSION Driven by its conviction in the social role of art, Rubis Mécénat develops artistic and cultural education projects in some countries where the Rubis group operates. Their goal is to empower disadvantaged youth and contribute sustainably to their training and integration by using artistic practice as a means of emancipation and positive engagement. In 2012, Rubis Mécénat established @ofsoulandjoy, its first project centered on photography in the township of Thokoza, in Johannesburg, South Africa. The fund then developed InPulse (@inpulseartproject), a project around visual arts, in Kingston, Jamaica. Most recently, in 2018, it created the Ndao Hanavao laboratory (@ndaohanavoproject) around social design in Antananarivo, Madagascar. #rubismecenat #artpatron #artprofessionnals

NDAO HANAVAO – MADAGASCAR Discover FOUR SEASONS, Benjamin Loyauté’s first monographic exhibition in Madagascar, presented by @hakantocontemporary and Rubis Mécénat, as part of @ndaohanavaoproject ! The artist was given a carte blanche to imagine and design this exhibition which is both a deep immersion into his artistic universe, enriched by his latest creative experiences in Madagascar, and a recontextualization of the fruits of his years of collaboration with @ndaohanavoproject. With FOUR SEASONS, Benjamin Loyauté highlights Malagasy ancestral practices, especially around the pearl— a symbolic object he incorporates into his artistic reflection. Through videos, installations, and sculptures, the artist explores the role of art as a balancing force in a world in transition and revisits the four seasons, in harmony with Malagasy realities, creating a dialogue between tradition and modernity, between nature and technology. #rubismecenat #ndaohanavao #benjaminloyaute #hakantocontemporary #socialdesign #sustainabledesign #sustainability #innovation #ecodesign # #madagascar #artpatron #artprofessionnals

RUBIS MÉCÉNAT IN WORDS - SUPPORT Aware of the importance of emerging and new creative voices, as well as unequal access to an artistic career, Rubis Mécénat supports aspiring artists through several professionalization and awareness-raising programmes. This includes the Rubis Mécénat Prize with Beaux-Arts de Paris, as well as support for the Young Creation workshop led by the Ateliers Médicis and the associated Young Creation Grant. Each year since 2021, the Rubis Mecenat Prize in partnership with @beauxartsparis enables a student to receive production assistance and curatorial advisement for the creation of a new work at @eglisesainteustache church in Paris Since 2023, Rubis Mécénat is supporting the Young Creation workshop developed by the @ateliersmedicis as part of the Cinémathèque idéale des banlieues du monde, for young artists and filmmakers. Supplementing this support is the Young Creation Grant of the Ateliers Médicis and Rubis Mécénat, awarded each year to a participant of the workshop for the development of one of their projects. In 2024, the fund extended its support to La Fabrique du Regard, the educational programme of @le_bal, which aims to shape young people through image literacy so as to sharpen their gaze. #rubismecenat #artpatron #artprofessionnals

OF SOUL AND JOY – SOUTH AFRICA [Meet our curators!] Meet Valérie Fougeirol (@valeriefougeirol), curator of Tshepiso Mazibuko (@intombazane_ethatha_izithombe) and Sibusiso Bheka (@sibusiso_bheka)’s exhibition in France as part of @photosaintgermain. Photography specialist, Valérie Fougeirol has held key position such as Director of Paris Photo (2002-2008) and Director of the Magnum Gallery (2008 -2012). In 2012, she co-founded Temple Gallery. As the artistic director for the 2014 Month of Photography, she curated the theme ‘Anonymous and Famous Amateurs’. Her independent curatorial projects include ‘American Dream Revisited’ at Galerie Hug (2015-2016) and co-curating ‘La Nostalgie de l’(In)visible’ at Galerie Embiricos (2016). Additionally, she has contributed to the art discourse through articles, including ‘Hommage à Lewis Baltz’ (2015) and ‘Wolfgang Tillmans: On the Verge of Visibility’ (2016). Valérie Fougeirol has been deeply involved with the Of Soul and Joy project, curating the latest exhibitions during PhotoSaintGermain, in 2022 for the 10 years anniversary of the programme as well as in 2020 for the ‘Daleside’ exhibition by Cyprien Clément-Delmas & Lindokhule Sobekwa. 🗓️Ubusukunemini (Day & Night), Tshepiso Mazibuko & Sibusiso Bheka From October 30 to November 23, 2024 10, rue Jacob #rubismecenat #ofsoulandjoy #photosaintgermain #photofestival #photofair #parisphotofair #parisphoto #expositionparis #galerieparis #galeriephoto #exhibitionart #rubismécénat

OF SOUL AND JOY – SOUTH AFRICA Join us in Paris for the exhibition of the @ofsoulandjoy photographers opening this week on the occasion of @photosaintgermain! Curated by @valeriefougeirol, the exhibition “Ubusukunemini (Day & Night)” brings the work of Tshepiso Mazibuko and Sibusiso Bheka into conversation, with regards to the 30th anniversary of democracy in South Africa (1994-2024). These two photographers belong to the so-called “born free” generation, a term designating the black youth born after the first non-racial democratic elections in 1994, who thus never experienced apartheid. They are the symbolic promise of a free, more egalitarian South Africa—a premise they question through their photographic practice. The exhibition is an invitation from Tshepiso Mazibuko to Sibusiso Bheka to weave together a vision of Thokoza today. It showcases an intimate portrait of the township, exploring its community via its present, its history and its memory. The two photographers, intertwining their sensibilities, take the pulse of the nascent South African democracy, deeply questioning the very meaning of “born free”. Ubusukunemini (Day & Night) 📍 10 rue Jacob, 75006 Paris 🗓️ From October 30 to November 23, 2024 Credits: Mabena © Tshepiso Mazibuko, Portrait of Tshepiso © Jabulani Dhlamini, Ekoni © Sibusiso Beka, Portrait of Sibusiso #rubismecenat #photography #photosaintgermain #parisphoto #southafrica #ofsoulandjoy

SUPPORT FOR ARTISTIC CREATION – RUBIS MECENAT PRIZE [Meet our curators!] Meet Stéphanie Pécourt (@stefpecourt), the curator behind @charlotte_simonnet’s installation at @eligesainteustache! With a degree in sociology, Stéphanie Pécourt has been the Artistic and General Director of the Centre Wallonie-Bruxelles in Paris since 2019, where she plays a key role in promoting contemporary creation and artistic signatures from the Wallonia-Brussels Federation. In Brussels, she was Director of Agence Wallonie-Bruxelles Théâtre/Danse, an agency dedicated to exporting the performing arts, and of Point Contact Culture, an interface between the European Commission and cultural operators. - She was also general manager of Halles Saint-Géry, repositioning this Brussels Agora as an exhibition and performance space. In 2015, she founded the belgian Artistic district, an autonomous ephemeral residency and exhibition zone bringing together some 65 Belgian and international artists, which she directed until 2017. Then, she founded the NOVA_XX International Biennial, dedicated to the Intrication of arts, sciences and new technologies in a feminine and non-binary mode. For the past ten years, she has been working as an independent curator in Belgium and abroad, working with international institutions such as Palais de Tokyo, Hong-Kong Arts Center, MAAT, BOZAR.... This year, she supported the 2024 Rubis Mécénat Prize laureate, @charlotte_simonnet, in developing her project ‘Glimpse’. 🗓️Glimpse, Charlotte Simonnet Until December 15, 2024 Eglise Saint-Eustache Curated by @stepecourt #rubismecenat #supportforartisticcreation #artpatron #artcurator #artprofessionnals #frenchartscene #frenchartist #artstudents #beauxartsdeparis #artproduction #prixrubismecenat #charlottesimonnet