Youqine Lefèvre (1993, CN) is a Belgian lens-based artist of Asian descent currently living and working in Brussels, Belgium. Her artistic practice combines photography, archival material, moving image, research and text, and explores the relationship between the intimate and the political.

Through individual narratives, both her own and those of others, she seeks to locate the personal within a wider collective framework, tracing how family structures, memory, and emotional bonds are formed, strained, and transformed under conditions of political and social pressure. With a strong interest in sociology, her work brings a critical yet deeply sensitive lens to these questions, attending to what is often left unspoken in the spaces between the individual and the world they inhabit.

Her work has been exhibited at FOMU (Antwerp, BE), The Photographers’ Gallery (London, UK), the Centre de la Photographie Genève (Geneva, CH), Photo Elysée (Lausanne, CH), and Photoforum PasquArt (Biel/Bienne, CH). She published her first photobook with The Eriskay Connection (NL, 2022), which was shortlisted for the Paris Photo–Aperture First PhotoBook Award 2022.

© Anne-Sophie Guillet

CV

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Education


2018-2020    Master in Visual Arts / Photography, The Royal Academy of Fine Arts (KASK), Ghent (BE)
2014-2016    Higher education in photography, School of Applied Arts (CEPV), Vevey, first prize (CH)
2011-2014     Bachelor in Visual Arts / Photography, School of Graphic Research (ERG), Brussels (BE)


Awards & grants

2026 SOFAM grant (BE)
2025 Creation support grant, Wallonia-Brussels Federation (BE)
2025 Grant for an international artistic residency, Wallonia-Brussels International (BE)
2025 C/O Berlin Talent Award, nominated (DE)
2024 Belfast Photo Festival, Exhibition, winner (UK)
2023 Prix Jeunes Artistes of the Parliament of Wallonia-Brussels Federation, finalist (BE)
2023 Fintro Prize, Film and Photography category, finalist (BE)
2023 Grant for an international artistic residency, Wallonia-Brussels International (BE)
2022 Women Photographers Grant, Phmuseum, special mention (IT)
2022 Paris Photo - Aperture PhotoBook Awards, First PhotoBook, shortlisted (US)
2022 Plat(t)form, Fotomuseum Winterthur, special mention (CH)
2021 LUMA RENCONTRES DUMMY BOOK AWARD ARLES, shortlisted (FR)
2021 Publication support grant, Wallonia-Brussels Federation (BE)
2021 MACK First Book Award, shortlisted (UK)
2021 Leica Oskar Barnack Award, Newcomer category, nominated (DE)
2020 Documentary Photography grant, SOFAM, laureate (BE)
2020 .tiff, FOMU, selected (BE)
2020 Horlait-Dapsens Prize, KASK / School of Arts Ghent, laureate (BE)
2020 Kassel Dummy Award, third prize (DE)
2020 reGeneration4, Musée de l’Elysée, selected (CH)
2019 Pitch your photo project, De Donkere Kamer #19, first prize (BE)
2017    Propositions d'artistes, Contretype, selected (BE)
2017     Prix Focale - Ville de Nyon, laureate (CH)
2017     Bourse du Talent #70 Portrait, laureate (FR)
2016     Prix PhotoforumPasquArt, SELECTION|AUSWAHL, laureate (CH)
2016     VFG Nachwuchsförderpreis, finalist (CH)
2016     Festival Voies Off, selected (FR)


Books

2022 The Land of Promises, The Eriskay Connection

Residencies

2026 Singapore Art Museum, Singapore (SG)
2025 3331 Arts Chiyoda, Tokyo (JP)
2023 3331 Arts Chiyoda, Tokyo (JP)
 

Exhibitions / Projections (selection)

2026 Group exhibition, Family Matters, FOMU, Antwerp (BE)
2025 Group exhibition, Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night, Danish Cultural Center, Beijing (CN)
2024 Group exhibition, Pop Up, Contretype, Brussels (BE)
2024 Group exhibition, Quand les images prennent soin, Centre de la Photographie de Genève, Geneva (CH)
2024 Group exhibition, Meditations on Love, The Photographers’ Gallery, London (UK)
2024 Group exhibition, Belfast Photo Festival, Belfast (UK)
2023 Group exhibition, Prix Jeunes Artistes of the Parliament of the Wallonia-Brussels Federation, Brussels (BE)
2023 22nd Biennal Sesc_Videobrasil, São Paulo (BR)
2022 Solo exhibition, L’image sans nom, Liège (BE)
2022 Group exhibition, Festival de l’Image de Stavelot, Stavelot (BE)
2022 Group exhibition, Les femmes s’exposent, Houlgate (FR)
2022 Group exhibition, European Trails, H2 – Zentrum für Gegenwartskunst im Glaspalast, Augsburg (DE)
2021 Talent Wall, Pennings Foundation, Eindhoven (NL)
2021 Le Fusée de la Motographie 2.0., Antwerp (BE)
2021 Group exhibition, .tiff #9, FOMU, Antwerp (BE)
2020 Group exhibition, reGeneration4, Musée de l’Elysée, Lausanne (CH)
2020 Group exhibition, Looking for Serendipity, curated by Iris Sikking, KASK, Ghent (BE)
2018 Group exhibition, Childhood, Centre of Contemporary Art, Torun (PL)
2018    Group exhibition, Bourse du Talent, Maison de la Photographie de Lille, Lille (FR)
2018    Group exhibition, Propositions d'artistes, Contretype, Brussels (BE) 
2017     Group exhibition, Bourse du Talent, Bibliothèque nationale de France, Paris (FR)
2017     Solo exhibition, Prix Focale - Ville de Nyon, Galerie-Librairie Focale, Nyon (CH)
2017     Group exhibition, Bourse du Talent, 7th Dali International Photography Exhibition, Dali (CHINA)
2017     Group exhibition, VFG young talents, Neue Galerie im Höhmannhaus, Augsburg (DE)
2017     Group projection, Des mondes meilleurs, Les Rencontres d'Arles, Espace Nonante-Neuf, Arles (FR)
2017     Group exhibition, VFG young talents, Uno Art Space, Stuttgart (DE) 
2016     Group exhibition, VFG young talents, l'ELAC at l'ECAl, Renens (CH)
2016     Group exhibition, SELECTION|AUSWAHL, Photoforum PasquArt, Bienne/Biel (CH) 
2016     Group exhibition, VFG young talents, Oslo 8, Basel (CH)
2016     Group exhibition, VFG young talents, Photobastei, Zürich (CH)
2016     Group projection, Des mondes meilleurs, Festival Images, CEPV, Vevey (CH)
2016     Group projection, Festival Voies Off, Les rencontres d’Arles, Arles (FR)


Collections

2026 The Land of Promises (book) — Musée de la Photographie, Charleroi (BE)
2025 The Land of Promises — FOMU, Antwerp (BE)
2024 The Land of Promises (book) — The Photographers’ Gallery, London (UK)
2022 The Land of Promises — Rossicontemporary, Brussels (BE)
2022 The Land of Promises (book) — Wallonia-Brussels Federation, Brussels (BE)
2021 The Land of Promises (book) — Institut pour la Photographie, Lille (FR)
2021 The Land of Promises (book) - MACK, London (UK)
2020 The Land of Promises — Photo Élysée, Lausanne (CH)
2017 Far from home — City of Nyon (CH)

 
Publications (selection)

2022 i-D
2022 La Déferlante
2022 Love, British Journal of Photography
2022 M le Monde
2021 Médor magazine
2021 VICE
2021 British Journal of Photography
2021 C4 journal
2021 .tiff magazine #9, FOMU
2020 TRIGGER MAGAZINE #2
2020 Women who do stuff #2
2018    Konbini
2018    L'oeil de la photographie
2017    Photo-Theoria #25, Focus
2016     C 41 Magazine
2016     Fisheye Magazine
2016     Next Level Magazine UK #24
2016     GUP Magazine
2016     FotoRoom