3. Namsa Leuba

Namsa Leuba was born to a Guinean mother and an Helvetian father. She grew up on the shores of Neuchatel’s lake in Switzerland. In 2011, Namsa Leuba graduated from ECAL/ University of art and design Lausanne, obtaining a BA in photography.

For 2 years her research focused on African identity through Western eyes.

In 2010, the jury of the festival of photography Planche(s) Contact of Deauville, chaired by Bettina Rheims, awarded her the prize of the students of photography schools. She subsequently obtained an artist residency in Deauville and an exhibition. Her work has been published in Numéro magazine and the photographs taken during her diploma "Ya Kala Ben" have been exhibited at the Lausanne contemporary art complex (elac) in 2011.

For this work, Namsa Leuba was awarded the ECAL prize, the BCV prize meant to reward a student of the Photo Unit who stands out through the quality of their work, and the Elinchrom prize, awarded to a student of the Photographic Unit who has produced excellent work during the attainment of their diploma.

Namsa was awarded the Hyeres PhotoGlobal Prize 2012 for wich she received a scholarship to study for one year at the school of visual art in New York (USA).

In 2012, she received a 3 months artist residency at l'Atelier vaudois du 700e de la Cité International des Arts in Paris (FR).