Séfora Camazano Receives the International Prize Renoir in Cannes

On September 12, I had the honour of receiving the International Prize Renoir – The Great Interpreter of Art in Cannes, an international award recognising artistic merit, presented during a ceremony organised by Effetto Arte at the Juliana Cannes Hotel.

Receiving an award bearing the name of Pierre-Auguste Renoir feels particularly meaningful to me. Light and the human figure are central to his work, and they have also long been at the heart of my own practice, although explored through a very different visual language and perspective.

At the centre of my work are people and their stories. For several years, particularly through Female Portraits: Looking Back to the Past, I have worked with women who have lived through difficult experiences, but whose stories are also marked by strength, dignity and resilience. For me, portraiture is a way of engaging with those experiences and giving them greater visibility.

During the ceremony, I spoke about what lies at the heart of this work:

“My work is mainly about people, their stories, and what they go through in life. For several years, I’ve been working with women who have faced difficult experiences, but whose stories are also about strength, dignity and resilience. Through my portraits, I simply try to make those stories visible.”

This recognition in Cannes comes at another significant point in a journey that has taken my work to an increasing number of national and international contexts in recent years. It follows other distinctions, including the International Prize Caravaggio – Great Master of Art and the International Prize Leonardo da Vinci – The Universal Artist.

My thanks to Salvatore Russo, Francesco Saverio Russo and Effetto Arte for this recognition and for the opportunity to bring further visibility to a body of work that, for me, always begins in the same place: with the person behind the portrait and a story worth listening to.