Images:
Top: ©Anne-Sophie Guillet
Bottom: Tsuzumi, Lone Islands, 2023

Artist Self-Introduction
Youqine Lefèvre's artistic practice, combining photography, archives, video, research and text, is an exploration of the relationship between the intimate and the political. Her work focuses on the declining birth rate in East Asia with the aim of deconstructing Western stereotypes over these territories, their population and culture. With a strong interest in demography and sociology and as an artist of Asian descent who grew up in Belgium, she brings a unique critical eye to these issues.

Base of Activity: Namur, Belgium
Media Used: Photography, video

Selected CV:
1. Belfast Photo Festival, Exhibition, winner, 2024
2. Paris Photo - Aperture First PhotoBook Award, Shortlisted, 2022
3. MA in Visual Arts, KASK / School of Arts, Ghent (BE), 2018-2020

Project Plan (Artist's Statement)
"Lone Islands" has as its starting point the low birth rate observed in Japan and expands to become political, societal, social, cultural and intimate. I explore the causes and consequences of this "problem" and its possible solutions. This work depicts a portrait of actual Japan, far from the time when the country experienced flamboyant economic growth. The current era highlights the limits of the nuclear family, where it is always the mother's responsibility to take care of the house and children. What if, in addition to economic stagnation, this demographic decline is the result of a conflict between tradition and modernity?

This project is supported by: