Cameron and Neshat in Conversation — Women's Portraiture at Centre d'art de Mougins

Conférence L'Heure FAMM x Caroline Benzaria brings a rare conversation between two artists separated by a century but bound by an inquiry into female identity: Victorian-era photographer Julia Margaret Cameron and contemporary Iranian-born visual artist Shirin Neshat. The event takes place at the Centre d’art de Mougins – Salle des mariages in Mougins, Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur, France, on Wednesday 14 January 2026 at 18h30. Arrive to Mougins’ stone streets and a light that has drawn painters and photographers for generations. The Centre d’art sits at the heart of the village; the meeting point is Place du commandant Lamy. Expect an intimate auditorium limited to 40 seats, designed for close study rather than lecture-hall distance. Caroline Benzaria, docteure en histoire de l’art and ARTENSION journalist, guides the conversation about portraiture, staged silence, and visual strategies of resistance. Over about one hour in French, she will trace how Cameron’s soft-focus, staged domestic tableaux and Neshat’s stark, politically charged series each stage women’s power and vulnerability in different visual grammars. For travelers the program is a compact cultural outing: a focused intellectual offering followed by a glass of l’amitié and a signing session—small moments that transform an ordinary evening into an encounter with local art life. Tickets are priced at 10 € (8 € for museum friends) and must be reserved online; cancellations are accepted up to 48 hours before the event. Minimum age is 7, making the lecture suitable for curious teens. The setting contributes to the experience. Mougins perches above the Côte d’Azur on soft limestone slopes draped in garrigue—thyme, rosemary and olive trees—and offers quick viewpoints back toward Cannes and the bay. Photographers and culture-minded travelers can combine the talk with a twilight walk through the old village, an hour at the Musée d'Art Classique de Mougins, or a coffee on the square. This conference feels special because it stages close-looking as a practice: careful seeing, comparative reading, and the pleasure of debating visual form in a place shaped by artists. For visitors hoping to ground their Cannes or Nice trip in local culture, it’s a brief, smart window into how images make and unmake identity across time. Practical details: bring a warm layer for January evenings, arrive a few minutes early to claim your seat at Place du commandant Lamy, and book online to secure one of 40 places. Caroline Benzaria's perspective benefits from two decades working with museums in France and the United States; expect concise references to curatorial practice, archival photographs, and the politics of exhibition. The format encourages questions after the talk, an ideal moment to connect with local curators and collectors. Booking online in advance is recommended—events of this scale sell out quickly, especially in January.