© Yahel Or Nir, 2001
[english] Julia Gat (b. 1997) is a photographer based between Rotterdam and Marseille. At the crossroads of documentary and portraiture, her work explores human interaction in its purest form. She won the 2022 Polyptyque Prize, the 2021 Steenbergen Public Prize and the 2020 Isem Young Photographer Prize. She recently exhibited at the Rencontres d’Arles and the Netherlands Photography Museum, and her first book Khamsa khamsa khamsa was published by Actes Sud in 2022.
[français] Née en 1997, Julia Gat est une photographe et réalisatrice basée à Marseille. À la croisée du documentaire et du portrait, son travail explore l’interaction humaine dans sa forme pure. Récemment exposée aux Rencontres d’Arles et au musée de la Photographie des Pays-Bas, son travail a remporté le prix Polyptyque 2022, le prix du public Steenbergen Stipendium 2021 et le prix Isem Jeune Photographe 2020. Son premier livre Khamsa khamsa khamsa a été publié aux éditions Actes Sud en 2022.
AWARDS
For this fourth edition, the Polyptyque exhibition offers a panorama of contemporary photography through a focus on the photographic scene in France. Thanks to the presence of experts and leading galleries, as well as an exhibition of eleven photographic artists working in the South of France, Polyptyque will be an opportunity to meet new people and make new artistic discoveries.
L’exposition "Echoing Stories 2" est un hommage au foot de rue, au rôle social qu'occupe le sport dans nos vies. L'identité et le territoire sont capturés par trois photographes, tel un documentaire social. Visibles jusqu'au 15 juin prochain à La Montgolfière Canal, les clichés seront exposés à Brooklyn, puis à Marseille à l’automne prochain.
My artist dossier is now published on Documents d’artistes PACA, the regional platform dedicated to documenting and sharing the work of contemporary visual artists.
My work is featured in THE PHOTOGRAPHER #1 — Families, a new bilingual (FR/EN) publication by éditions The Drawer dedicated to contemporary photography, released in November 2025 and launched at Paris Photo.
Mare Internum was featured in Marie Claire Korea, highlighting the project’s intimate exploration of the Mediterranean as a space of memory, circulation, and belonging, and its poetic approach to weaving personal narratives with broader cultural landscapes.
Here’s a short quote extracted and adapted from the text:
“Julia Gat has captured, as she knows so well how to do, familiar and often youthful portraits: light moments of laughter, a jump, an escape, a strand of hair being wrung out, but also lost gazes toward the open sea, toward this Mediterranean, Mare Internum, where everyone, according to their own story, can project themselves.”
— Ventilo Magazine, June 12, 2024, Aline Memmi
exhibitions
Echoing Stories is a transatlantic photography project connecting artists from France and the United States, initiated in 2024 by Elsa Seignol and Marvin Bonheur. Rooted in community, the project explores how images can reflect and connect local realities across territories. The 2026 edition focuses on football as a social catalyst, examining how communities gather, shape identity, and express belonging across different urban contexts.
Echoing Stories is a social documentary and photography project founded by Marvin Bonheur and Elsa Seignol. The second edition highlighted street football through the eyes of three photographers: Marvin Bonheur (Paris), Julia Gat (Marseille), and Raphaël Gaultier (New York).
Invited by Forum Vies Mobiles, Centre Photographique Marseille, and Réseau Diagonal as part of a national photographic commission, I am developing a new documentary project exploring women’s football in Marseille.
Selected by RATP and Fisheye for the Mers et Océans exhibition across Paris metro stations, my work from Mare Internum was shown in multiple locations throughout the network, bringing photography into the everyday journeys of commuters.
I’m thrilled to announce that I will be joining the 4th edition of Les Rencontres de la Photographie Marrakech, thanks to our partnership with the Centre Photographique Marseille (@centrephotomarseille). The Rencontres de la Photographie de Marrakech is an independent festival in its fourth edition. The festival is organized by the association Voix Plurielles. The Association Voix Plurielles is a cultural association created in 2018. Its mission is to develop cultural projects that contribute to the animation and enrichment of city life. Its activities span various fields such as art, organizing symposiums, and literary, artistic, and cultural meetings related to major cultural and civilizational issues. The conception of our projects is mainly based on: Creativity, as a source and motivation for individual, social, and economic development.
Brutus Space presents the 2nd edition of a Wild Summer of Art featuring work by 50 Rotterdam-based contemporary artists and a dynamic public program of events, screenings and performances. This year's edition is guest-curated by Amira Gad in collaboration with Sophie de Vos. The participating artists were selected from a long-list of creatives nominated by a select group of scouts who are well-versed with Rotterdam's art scene.
Official opening July 12th
JARDIN DE LECTURE DES ARCHIVES ET BIBLIOTHÈQUE DÉPARTEMENTALES DES BOUCHES-DU-RHÔNE, MARSEILLE, 2 MAY - 29 SEPTEMBER 2024
Pour la 3ème année consécutive, le Centre Photographique Marseille présente une exposition originale de créations (ou de créations partagées) terminés ou toujours en cours. L’occasion de découvrir dix artistes impliqué⸱e⸱s dans des projets menés par le CPM. Leurs démarches s’inscrivent dans une recherche générale sur la pratique de la photographie aujourd’hui, où chaque artiste a développé un fil narratif ou une approche esthétique propre.
For this fourth edition, the Polyptyque exhibition offers a panorama of contemporary photography through a focus on the photographic scene in France. Thanks to the presence of experts and leading galleries, as well as an exhibition of eleven photographic artists working in the South of France, Polyptyque will be an opportunity to meet new people and make new artistic discoveries.
The new collection “48 Vues” from Actes Sud reflects a desire to break free from the codes of the traditional coffee table book to imagine light objects. It explores changing formats adjusted to each work, in order to reveal unique writing and a sensitive, intimate look at the world. It enters a field of contemporary photography combining experimentation, continuous research, and travel without a destination. Since the age of 13, Julia Gat has built a body of photographic work at home by training her lens on the people around her: Khamsa khamsa khamsa is an autobiographical visual narrative in the form of a family archive.
Maquette is a photographic and moving image exhibition presenting the work of five artists-students from the Piet Zwart Institute and the Willem de Kooning Academy. The exhibition focuses on the dynamics that are emerging from the contiguity and porosity of singular representations of the world. With artworks varying in their format, processes, perspectives and narratives, differences and contrasts have been given a central position in the curation. With photographic works and moving images by Julia Gat, Yael Laroes, Sonia Mangiapane, Felix Obermaier and Ugo Petronin.
Super happy to have been selected as guest photographer in the jury of the photo contest VIVAL 2019! Join us tomorrow night for the opening of an exhibition showcasing the chosen winners as well as my own work; a selection from two of my latest series shot in The Netherlands with the help of Willem de Kooning Academy.
Mare Internum has been awarded the CNAP Grant for Contemporary Documentary Photography, supporting the ongoing development of this long-term project exploring the Mediterranean and my origins.