Mário Macilau · Prix Roger Pic 2023

The Roger Pic 2023 Prize was awarded to Mozambican artist Mário Macilau for his project Faith.  For his 31st edition, the photographer was rewarded for his monochrome series mixed with ancestral beliefs and myths.

As every year, the Roger Pic Prize is set up to promote and accompany the work of artists, with deserving backgrounds and projects, with an endowment of €5,000.

Mário Macilau for his portfolio Faith (2022) · Movart Gallery

Faith documents the practice of animism in contemporary Mozambique. In traditional religions, whose members believe in the existence of individual spirits that inhabit natural objects and phenomena, the spirits of ancestors can affect the lives of the living. These traditional religions preserve the ancient cultures of the Mozambican tradition. Ancestral religious practices induce the transmission of knowledge: traditional medicine, methods of healing, rites of passage for young men and women, rules of community life. All these practices reflect the various local conceptions of God and the cosmos. Within the same community, there may be differences in the perception of the supernatural. While Catholic and Protestant religions, Islam and Judaism are statistically dominant, the adoption of these foreign religions has not completely erased traditional Mozambican practices. 

Photographer's biography

Mário Macilau lives and works between Lisbon (Portugal), Maputo (Mozambique) and Cape Town (South Africa). Multidisciplinary artist and activist, known for his photographic work, he is considered one of the leading figures of the new generation of Mozambican artists. His photographs shed light on identity, political issues and environmental conditions. He works with socially isolated groups to raise awareness of the many injustices and social inequalities in the world. With the portrait as a starting point, it opens the field and invites scenes of humanity, brotherhood and hope.

The jury was composed of Guy Seligmann (president of the Scam Vélasquez Association), Sandra Reinflet (2020 winner), Nicolas Jimenez (Le Monde photo director), Stéphanie Retière-Secret (director of the La Gacilly Photo Festival), Jacques Graf (photographer, member of commission Images fixes de la Scam)

As part of the inauguration of the La Gacilly Photo Festival, a meeting will be organized on Saturday, June 3, 2023, at 6 pm

The exhibition opening and award ceremony will take place at the Fisheye Gallery in Paris on September 12, 2023. The exhibition will be available at the gallery from September 12 to October 21, 2023