dream team

Created in 1961, Panini's vignettes, stick-on photos of soccer players—which are sold in packs to be pasted into albums to recreate the team—remain very popular today.

The projects by contemporary photographers Olivier Cablat and Elena Anosova largely draw on the characteristics of the “Panini” portrait—a head-and-shoulders shot, taken from the front, centered, and focused closely on the players’ faces—to offer us new variations on this theme.

Olivier Cablat is a French documentary artist whose work combines photography and digital experimentation to explore everyday subjects. A huge soccer fan, he has undertaken several projects centered on the sport. In the series presented in Calais, he explores the history of the “Panini-style” photographic portrait, a technique developed in the second half of the 19th century by the humanities—particularly anthropology—for comparative studies. 

As the title suggests typological Studies of the Causal Effects Observed in Individuals Exposed to Physical Challenges Related to the Feet , Olivier Cablat reappropriates this vocabulary and scientific approach. The graphic novel *Panini* thus becomes a kind of scholarly work that humorously highlights the popular culture of soccer without ever mentioning the sport by name.

Alongside other photographs from his series Team, Elena Anosova’s portraits, taken during her residency with the Amiens SC professional adapted soccer team, take the form of a human chain symbolized by a hand resting on the shoulder of each of the subjects. Through this artistic approach, the photographer reveals the dimensions of solidarity and self-affirmation that sports represent for these men and women.

↘︎ Tour: Booklet Easy to read and understand 

↘︎ Acknowledgments and mentions: This exhibition has been certified by Paris 2024 as part of the Cultural Olympiad and is supported by the DRAC Hauts-de-France. In partnership with the City of Calais