Photo : M10
Exhibition "LALA photographs her city" - Jardin Villemin - Mahsa Jîna Amini
After a notable exhibition on the railings of the Hôtel de Ville during the summer of 2025, the work of Nicole LALA moves to the 10th arrondissement, on the railings of the Jardin Villemin-Mahsa Jîna Amini. A photojournalist from 1960 for the magazine Regards, then a film set photographer and a discreet witness to the margins and the intimate, she left behind at her passing in 2015 a collection of nearly 20,000 prints. Her daughter, Delphine Bonnet, has turned this into a project of memory and transmission now revealed to the general public.
Jardin Villemin - Mahsa Jîna Amini (Paris 10th)
About
Remaining in the shadows her whole life, Nicole LALA was nonetheless a major photographer of the everyday, the sensitive, and the invisible. After an initial open-air exhibition on the railings of the Hôtel de Ville during the summer of 2025, it is now the Jardin Villemin-Mahsa Jîna Amini's turn to host this tribute, revealing the breadth of a discreet yet powerful body of work, nourished by labor reporting, film set images, urban scenes, and intimate moments.
Simply titled LALA photographs her city, this retrospective brings together black and white photographs taken in the capital between the late 1950s and the early 1980s, revealing an intimate, sometimes fleeting, always vibrant Paris. In 1960, commissioned by the magazine Regards at the same time as Willy Ronis, Nicole LALA became one of only two female photojournalists covering current events for the monthly. Armed with her Rolleiflex and Exacta Varex, she documented the agricultural and working worlds through images, and observed, between assignments, the Paris of her daily life through her lenses. Later, hired for film shoots, she applied herself to capturing the gestures and expressions of the stars of her time.
This selection comes from an impressive collection of about 20,000 black and white photographs, accompanied by negatives in perfect condition, which the artist developed and printed herself. During her life, LALA also photographed her loved ones, and particularly her daughter. Thanks to the work of memory and transmission carried out by the latter, Delphine Bonnet, now the exhibition's curator, this visual treasure is finally coming to light: upon Nicole LALA's passing in 2015, thousands of negatives and prints were still sleeping, never shown, at the bottom of her bedroom drawers.
This exhibition can be discovered with free access, 7 days a week, 24 hours a day, on the railings of the Jardin Villemin-Mahsa Jîna Amini (on the Quai de Valmy side).
Our take on this event
Forget the postcard version of Paris; Nicole Lala captures the raw, beating heart of the city through an archive rediscovered after years in the shadows. Stroll through this tranquil park and immerse yourself in an intimate collection of street photography that turns everyday moments into timeless art.
The Jardin Villemin - Mahsa Jîna Amini hosts a retrospective dedicated to Nicole LALA, a photographer whose work is showcased from September 1 to November 30, 2026. This open-air exhibition invites visitors to explore Paris from the late 1950s to the early 1980s through a selection of black-and-white prints. As a witness to the working-class world and film sets, the artist captures daily life and intimate moments with great sensitivity. The exhibition is entirely free and accessible at any time, as the panels are displayed 24:00 on the fences along the Quai de Valmy.
This exhibition reveals the previously unseen work of Nicole LALA, a photojournalist whose archives remained private for decades. Equipped with her Rolleiflex and Exacta Varex cameras, she captured agricultural life, industrial workers, and film stars between the late 1950s and the early 1980s. Her work, which caught the attention of the magazine Regards in 1960, is now presented to the public through a collection of 20,000 carefully preserved negatives and prints.
The retrospective, curated by the artist's daughter Delphine Bonnet, highlights both the professional eye of an active reporter and the tender perspective of a woman documenting her own intimate surroundings. These photographs, displayed on the perimeter of the Jardin Villemin - Mahsa Jîna Amini in the 10th arrondissement, offer a glimpse into an authentic and lively Paris that remained hidden in family drawers until 2015.
The exhibition runs from September 1, 2026, until November 30, 2026. Located along the Quai de Valmy, this outdoor display is open to the public 24:00, seven days a week, with no booking required.
