--- description: With its grand new setting in the Grand Palais, nearly 120 exhibiting galleries, and tens of thousands of expected visitors, the annual event has secured its place as the n’est plus ultra of photography fairs. title: Paris Photo 2011 Spotlights Sub-Saharan Africa image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt40b0d887aceac7f5/69879a7c524fc03930dede26/le-gilles-dagogo-ghana.jpg?branch=production&width=2400&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [World](/section/world/) ## World Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close * [LightBox](/tag/time-section-lightbox/) ## LightBox Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # Paris Photo 2011 Spotlights Sub-Saharan Africa by [Sonia van Gilder Cooke](/author/sonia-van-gilder-cooke/) ## Sonia van Gilder Cooke Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Nov 10, 2011 7:00 PM CUT  Le Gilles d´Agogo, Ghana, 2010 Le Gilles d´Agogo, Ghana, 2010© Denis Dailleux courtesy Camera Obscura, Paris by [Sonia van Gilder Cooke](/author/sonia-van-gilder-cooke/) ## Sonia van Gilder Cooke Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Nov 10, 2011 7:00 PM CUT With its grand new setting in the Grand Palais, nearly 120 exhibiting galleries, and tens of thousands of expected visitors, Paris Photo has secured its place as the n’est plus ultra of photography fairs. That hasn’t kept its new director, Julien Frydman, from having even greater ambitions for the 15th anniversary of the annual event, which begins today and runs through Nov. 13\. “It’s about getting out of the ghetto,” says Frydman, the former chief of Magnum Photos in the French capital, who notes that until recently, documentary photography has languished as a sideshow in the history of art. “We want to make sure this photo fair is among the best art fairs of the world.” Paris Photo 2011 certainly has a lot going for it already. This year, the theme of Sub-Saharan Africa will be marked by a display of portraits from the private trove of German collector Artur Walther and a special exhibition of up-and-coming young African talent. Visitors will be treated to a vast array of images from the continent, from Malick Sidebé’s celebration of Malian pop culture in the 1969’s to Richard Mosse’s pink-hued portraits of modern Congo. In addition to its usual swarm of galleries, this year’s fair will feature a suite of new attractions intended to up its global profile. Frydman hopes the new Paris Photo Platform, a discussion forum, will debunk the notion of documentary photography as an insular art form. Led by art historian Chantal Pontbriant, the Platform will feature “thinkers, artists, art critics—but not the usual suspects,” he promises. To bring alive this dialogue between photography and other genres, storied curator André Magnin will bring together paintings and photographs by artists such as Yinka Shonibare and Seydou Keïta. Another new feature, “Recent acquisitions,” uncovers how museums collect their artworks, from the Tate Modern’s focus on the oeuvre of Daido Moriyama to the Musée de l’Elysée’s acquisition of the Charlie Chaplin estate. In time, Frydman hopes that his innovations will “skyrocket the fair into the top 10” art fairs in the world. It’s important to him, however, that it doesn’t lose its heart along the way. “What I wanted to keep is the conviviality,” he says, noting the fair’s ambiance of friendship and shared passion. “That’s something to keep as a treasure.” Paris Photo _runs through Nov. 13 in the French capital. Read more about it_ [_here_](http://www.parisphoto.fr/?lg=en "undefined")_._  Tutsi Town, North Kivu, Eastern Congo, 2010 Richard Mosse courtesy The Empty Quarter Gallery  Nuit de Noël, 1963 © Malick Sidibé courtesy Galerie du jour Agnes b., Paris  Soudan français, 1890's Courtesy Lumière des Roses, Montreuil  Series Men in The Cities 1977-2009, 1977 © Robert Longo in camera galerie  Tokyo (The Artist's Book), 2011 © Toluca Editions & Daido Moriyama  Collette, 1953 C. Carone courtesy of Galerija Fotografija  Fullmoon@Neban Point, 2007 Courtesy galerie Xippas  Le Gilles d´Agogo, Ghana, 2010 © Denis Dailleux courtesy Camera Obscura, Paris  Ocean Hotel Restaurant, Butlins, 2010 © Anna Fox courtesy James Hyman Photography  XXX, from the series, Snake Eyes/Lana, 2002 Terri Weifenbach courtesy Robert Klein Gallery  Becky & Jill, from Week-End, 2009 Alex Prager courtesy Yancey Richardson Gallery  Depressive Palmtree, 2011 Jaap Scheeren courtesy Flatland ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3782861/paris-photo-2011-spotlights-sub-saharan-africa/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3782861/paris-photo-2011-spotlights-sub-saharan-africa/"},"headline":"Paris Photo 2011 Spotlights Sub-Saharan Africa","datePublished":"2011-11-10T19:00:36.000Z","dateModified":"2026-05-11T04:41:19.194Z","description":"With its grand new setting in the Grand Palais, nearly 120 exhibiting galleries, and tens of thousands of expected visitors, the annual event has secured its place as the n’est plus ultra of photography fairs.","url":"https://time.com/3782861/paris-photo-2011-spotlights-sub-saharan-africa/","keywords":["LightBox","France","photography","Fine Art","paris","Out There"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt40b0d887aceac7f5/69879a7c524fc03930dede26/le-gilles-dagogo-ghana.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Sonia van Gilder Cooke","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/sonia-van-gilder-cooke/"}],"articleSection":"World","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt40b0d887aceac7f5/69879a7c524fc03930dede26/le-gilles-dagogo-ghana.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Le Gilles d'Agogo, Ghana","caption":"Le Gilles d´Agogo, Ghana, 2010","creditText":"© Denis Dailleux courtesy Camera Obscura, Paris","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/world/","name":"World"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-lightbox/","name":"LightBox"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3782861/paris-photo-2011-spotlights-sub-saharan-africa/","name":"Paris Photo 2011 Spotlights Sub-Saharan Africa"}}]}] ```