January to May 2026

On 19, Centre régional d’art contemporain de Montbéliard, as part of the “Artistes plasticiens au lycée 2025-2026” (Visual Artists in High Schools 2025-2026) program, offers to explore the region through the lens of photography, inviting the artist duo Ama Split and Riky Kiwy to work in two schools in the Bourgogne-Franche-Comté Region: the Lucien Quelet agricultural high school in Valdoie (90) and the Montciel vocational high school in Lons-le-Saunier (39).

The residency took place at the Montciel vocational high school in Lons-le-Saunier and at the Lucien Quelet agricultural high school in Valdoie. In Lons-le-Saunier, 28 first-year vocational students in Business Management (Sales and Retail option) took part in the project, with their teacher Nathalie Delfour. In Valdoie, 25 final-year vocational students in Landscape Design were supported by their teacher Laurence Lotte. In both schools, the students chose an area to explore in and around their school. The aim was to start from a familiar environment and try to see it differently, paying particular attention to details, ordinary spaces, and elements that usually go unnoticed. The photo outings were accompanied by a logbook, allowing students to keep a record of their intentions, technical choices, and impressions.

The final presentations were the culmination of several months of work and gave students the opportunity to show their photographs to school staff, their families and friends, and partners. At the Montciel vocational high school in Lons-le-Saunier, the presentation was held on May 21, 2026, at the school. 28 students took part in the residency, and about 50 people attended the presentation. At the Lucien Quelet agricultural high school in Valdoie, the presentation was held on May 26, 2026, at the school. 25 students took part in the residency, and about 35 people attended the presentation. These two events showcased the work accomplished and brought together students, teaching teams, artists, families, and partners.

19 Crac produced a publication to preserve a record of the residency and to document the work carried out with the students and the artists. Its design involved extensive editorial work, carried out by 19, Crac’s communications officer, based on the photographs and materials produced during the residency. It retraces the course of the project and showcases the students’ work in a form conceived as a true editorial object. 150 copies were printed, so that, among other things, each participating student could take home a copy and keep a personal record of their experience. This editorial approach also echoes the practice of Ama Split and Riky Kiwy, who regularly develop photographic projects in the form of books, magazines, and self-published works.

Read the publication here.

Ama Split is a photographer born in Montbéliard in 1983. After studying advertising and marketing as well as foreign languages in Besançon, she moved to Italy and then Germany, where she lived and worked. Her practice spans various photographic approaches, including digital photography, street photography, and analog processes. It was in Milan, in 2008, that she began to focus her work on the use of color film, with recurring subjects such as architecture, the subway, the street, and people.

Riky Kiwy is a photographer born in Italy in 1982. After training in fashion photography in Milan, he developed an interest in street photography and moved to Berlin. In the 2000s, he began working with analog photography and devoted his practice to graffiti photography. He documents the actions and works of graffiti artists, from which he creates artistic documentaries in the form of self-published books and magazines.

A program initiated and funded by the Bourgogne-Franche-Comté Region, in partnership with the DRAEAC Bourgogne-Franche-Comté and the DRAAF..