Sylvain Holtermann
About
Sylvain Holtermann is a French photographer, born in Nepal in 1970. He began taking pictures as a child and developed a passion for both photography and darkroom techniques. During his teenage years, formative encounters helped shape his photographic style.
Keen to explore the world, he travelled to China at eighteen, spending a year studying and immersing himself in the local culture. He returned to Beijing in 1991 for another year, this time with a small grant from Kodak, and held his first solo exhibition there. Holtermann moved to Hong Kong in 1995. His work has since been featured in solo and group exhibitions in France, China, and Russia, and has appeared in international magazines and photobooks.
In parallel to his photographic practice, he has developed a career as an educator at the University of Hong Kong, where he holds the position of Senior Lecturer and Director of Global and Area Studies, French Programme, in the School of Modern Languages and Cultures (Faculty of Arts, HKU).
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Selective Biography
2025 - 20/20 VISION by Boogie Woogie Photography and Devedo, Fine Art Asia 2025
2025 - Neither here / nor there, collective photobook published by éphémère, Tokyo.
2025 - In The Modern World, collective photobook published by Woofer Magazine.
2025 - Cinq paysages de France, series commissioned by the French Consulate General in Hong Kong and Macau.
2024 - Solo exhibition Hong Kong Revisited at Space Place Gallery, Nizhny Tagil, Russia.
2024 - Portfolio in Deadpan Magazine.
2024 - Happening Happenstance, collective photobook published by éphémère, Tokyo.
2024 - Exhibition Résonance (Holtermann, Jeandedieu and Shikama), Boogie Woogie Photography, French May 2024.
2024 - Bridges, collective exhibition at Galerie Kraemer, Paris.
2022 - Interview and portfolio in the photography journal Zaptronic.
2020 - Returns to photography with the Hong Kong Revisited project.
2005 - Shifts focus to electronic music as monosite (rmonème; SAND Festival HK, etc.).
2000 - Group exhibition of Å at the Prieuré Saint-Vincent, Chartres, France.
1998 - Vietnam images published in Paroles magazine, Hong Kong.
1996 - Founds the group Å with photographers Jérôme Galland and Sandrine Expilly.
1995 - Settles in Hong Kong.
1995 - Residence, Rencontres de la Jeune Photographie Internationale in Niort, France
1994 - Travels to Vietnam.
1993 - Group exhibition at La Maison de la Chine, Paris.
1992 - First solo exhibition Nuits de Chine at the French Cultural Centre in Beijing, China
1991 - Kodak grant and second year in China.
1988 - First year in China.
1980 - First photographs taken with a Kodak Pocket Instamatic.
1970 - Born in Kathmandu, Nepal.​
Sylvain Holtermann is represented by
Boogie Woogie Photography in Hong Kong
www.boogiewoogiephotography.com
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Contact
Instagram: @hk_revisited