Photographer Kourtney Roy and musician Mathias Delplanque won the 6th edition of the Prix Swiss Life à 4 mains for their project Last Paradise. This prize is the only one in France that brings together photography and music, fostering a unique artistic dialogue.

Last Paradise tells the story of a female character’s last vacation in a deserted seaside town, Rimini in Italy. Roy’s photography captures fleeting, intimate moments in vivid, cinematic detail, Delplanque’s music unfolds like a sonic journey, blending electronic and acoustic sounds to create an immersive landscape.

Rimini, with its unique juxtaposition of ancient architecture and modern seaside energy, provides an evocative backdrop for both artists. The city, known for its rich historical layers and its contemporary, tourist-driven vibrancy, seems to mirror the themes explored in their respective works. Roy’s photographic compositions often focus on the tensions between nostalgia and the present, capturing moments that feel both personal and universal. In a similar way, Delplanque’s music, especially on his latest album, Last Paradise, reflects this duality, blending field recordings, organic textures, and electronic sounds to evoke the shifting, transient nature of time and place.

For Delplanque, Rimini served as the inspiration for Last Paradise, he used the city’s landscapes, both natural and urban, as a source for his acoustic explorations. The sounds of the sea, the hum of the city, and the stillness of ancient ruins become an integral part of the album’s texture.

Roy’s connection to Rimini can be felt in her photographs that explore the way spaces, memories, and experiences shape our sense of identity. Her work often places her subjects within carefully curated settings that feel like constructed worlds, emphasizing the tension between the personal and the collective. In her exploration of Rimini, she may focus on the passage of time as it manifests in the city’s landscapes, where old and new, the past and present, constantly interact.

Together, Roy and Delplanque’s works offer a multi-sensory exploration of Rimini, each artist reflecting the city’s dualities in their own unique way. Roy’s images capture the quiet beauty of moments suspended in time, while Delplanque’s music transports listeners into the fluid, shifting spaces of sound that mirror the city’s dynamic atmosphere.

The Last Paradise project is showcased in a photography book published by Éditions Filigranes, accompanied by a vinyl of the soundtrack.

Upcoming dates for the Last Paradise tour :

– April 5 to May 25, 2025 / Jeunes Rencontres de la Photographie Internationale, Villa Perrochon, Niort
– June 7, 2025 / live performance by the 2 artists at the Art Rock festival, Saint Brieuc
– June 20 – September 20 / Jeu de Paume, Château de Tours