Christelle Yambayisa, born in Rwanda in 1988, brings a deeply personal perspective to her photography. After fleeing the Rwandan genocide in 1996, she arrived in France, where she would later develop her artistic voice. Photography became her means of preserving memories after realizing at age eight that all her childhood photos had been destroyed during the war. As she has said, "I photograph for fear of forgetting."

"Le vide" (The Void), captured in Paris in 2018, exemplifies her thoughtful approach to urban photography. The image transforms Paris's uniform Haussmannian architecture into a meditation on pattern and emptiness, perhaps reflecting her own experiences of displacement and identity. The repetitive elements of the city's limestone buildings and zinc rooftops create a sophisticated study in geometry and space that speaks to both presence and absence.

Yambayisa's work often explores themes of duality - she is both photographer and model, French and Rwandan - and her images serve as a bridge between her multiple identities. Through her lens, even Paris's most familiar views become contemplative spaces that invite viewers to consider deeper narratives of belonging and memory.

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