Born in Paris, Elene Usdin graduated from the École Nationale Supérieure des Arts Décoratifs de Paris in 1996, where she studied graphic design and animation. After starting her career as a film set painter and illustrator, she turned primarily to photography, with projects inspired by extensive travels in North America and Asia.

Winner of the Picto Fashion Photography Award in 2006, she published her first monograph in 2013. In recent years, she has also focused on graphic novels. Her first book, René.e aux boisdormants (2021), received several awards, including the ACBD Critics’ Grand Prize, the Prix Artémisia and the Quebec Booksellers’ Prize.

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Elene is on a residency program through Septentrionales and will be staying at Lademoen Kunstnerverksteder from August 31 to September 03. The Septentrionales is a traveling residency program for contemporary creation by the French Institutes of Denmark, Sweden, Norway and Finland. In this program the artist travels to different countries and locations while creating. Lademoen Kunstnerverksteder is a proud collaborator in this project.