Marie-Jo Lafontaine: Babylon Babies Published by Hatje Cantz.
Artwork by Marie-Jo Lafontaine. Contributions by Christine Buci-Glucksmann. Text by Paul Ardenne, Hawa Djabali, Charles Dreyfus, Robert Eichhorn, Willem Elias, Romuald Hazoumé, Adolph Muschg, Simon Njami. Amid her current explorations of multilayered topics such as identity, the city, cultural spaces in urban areas, and youth culture, Belgian artist Marie-Jo Lafontaine presents her newest series, Babylon Babies. Comprised of large-format portrait photographs of teenagers superimposed on brightly colored monochromatic backgrounds, Babylon Babies performs an iconography of youth that goes beyond the usual clichªs, confronting the viewer with independent young people whose photographic representations refuse any context and are therefore open for projection. In her multicultural cast of head shots, Lafontaine goes far beyond the United Colors of Benetton, presenting a familiar, beautiful array of youths, but never on the suspicious level of the ber youth.
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