Karla Hiraldo Voleau (b. 1992) is a French-Dominican artist working across photography, performance, film, and installation. Through autobiographical narratives, her work explores intimacy, desire, gender relations, and power structures, blurring the boundaries between personal experience and social realities.
She graduated with highest honours from ECAL (University of Art and Design Lausanne) in 2018. Her graduation project Hola Mi Amol was published as a photobook in 2019 and received the VFG Swiss Young Talent Award for Photography, among other distinctions.
Her work has been exhibited internationally at institutions and festivals including the International Center of Photography (New York), Maison Européenne de la Photographie (Paris), Art Basel, Foam Amsterdam, Deichtorhallen Hamburg, Fotoforum Biel/Bienne, Foto Forum Bolzano, and the Locarno Film Festival.
Recent solo exhibitions include Without Men at Christophe Guye Galerie, Zurich (2024), Doble Moral in Paris (2024), and Another Love Story at La Nombreuse, Brussels (2026). She is the recipient of numerous awards, grants, and residencies, including the Olympus Recommended Fellowship, several Pro Helvetia grants, the Picto Talent Prize, and the Jury Prize of Fotofestival Lenzburg.
Her works are held in the collections of Photo Elysée (Lausanne), Fotomuseum Den Haag, and the Bibliothèque nationale de France (Paris).
Education
2018
MA in Photography, ECAL, Lausanne, Switzerland Graduated with highest honours
2016
BA in Design, option Photography, Écoles de Condé, Paris, France
Selected solo exhibitions
2026
"Another Love Story", La Nombreuse, Brussels, Belgium
2024
"Doble Moral", Paris Photo, Emergence Sector, with Christophe Guye Galerie, Paris, France
"Doble Moral", La Boulangerie, Paris, France
"Without Men", Christophe Guye Galerie, Zurich, Switzerland
2023
"Another Love Story", Photoforum, Biel/Bienne, Switzerland
"Another Love Story", Foto Forum, Bolzano, Italy
2022
"Another Love Story", Maison Européenne de la Photographie, Paris, France
"Quelle lenteur tout à coup", Galerie C, La Nuit des Musées, Lausanne, Switzerland
Selected group exhibitions
2026
"You Can Have it All", Fotofestival Lenzburg, Switzerland
"You Can Have it All", EXPOSED Photo Festival, Turin, Italy
2025
"Love, Maybe", featuring "You Can Have it All", Alexander Tutsek-Stiftung, Munich, Germany
2024
Artists of the Gallery, Christophe Guye Galerie, Zurich, Switzerland
MIA Fair Milano, Christophe Guye Galerie, Milan, Italy
"How Language Invents the World", featuring "I Have Nothing to Tell You", Bündner Kunstmuseum, Chur, Switzerland
"La Photographie à tout Prix", featuring "Doble Moral", Bibliothèque nationale de France, Paris, France
"La Mémoire des Hauts Fonds", featuring "Doble Moral", Galerie de la Cité Internationale des Arts, Paris, France
2023
"As I Was Moving Ahead", featuring "Doble Moral", Basecamp × International Film Festival of Locarno, Switzerland
"Love Songs", featuring "Another Love Story", International Center of Photography, New York, USA
Bieler Fototage, featuring "A Man in Public Space, part II", Biel/Bienne, Switzerland
"Désirés", featuring "Hola Mi Amol", 110 Galerie, Paris, France
2022
"Love Songs", featuring "Another Love Story", Maison Européenne de la Photographie, Paris, France
"A Man in Public Space", Art Basel, Switzerland
2021
"Olympus Recommended Fellowship", featuring "I Have Nothing to Tell You", Foam, Amsterdam, Netherlands
"Foam Talent", featuring "Hola Mi Amol", Foam, Amsterdam, Netherlands
"SPBH Lounge", featuring "A Man in Public Space", Webber Gallery, London, United Kingdom
"Between the Lines", featuring "Demain n'arrivera pas", Grove Gallery, London, United Kingdom
Bieler Fototage, featuring "A Man in Public Space", Photoforum Pasquart, Biel/Bienne, Switzerland
Photo Festival Urbi & Orbi, featuring "A Man in Public Space", Sedan, France
2020
"Foam Talent", featuring "Hola Mi Amol", Kühlhaus, Berlin, Germany
Biennale de l'Image Possible, featuring "A Man in Public Space", Liège, Belgium
"Olympus Recommended Fellowship", featuring "I Have Nothing to Tell You", Deichtorhallen Hamburg and Fotografie Forum Frankfurt, Germany
Photo Schweiz Fair, featuring "Pictures From Bed", Zurich, Switzerland
2017
"Collaborate!", curated by Foam, Les Rencontres d'Arles, France
2016
"Pamela", MAP Photography Festival, Musée Paul Dupuy, Toulouse, France
Publications
2023
Another Love Story, published by Mörel Books, United Kingdom
2021
Pictures From Bed, published by Le Rayon Vert Editions, France
2019
Hola Mi Amol, co-published by Self Publish, Be Happy and ECAL, United Kingdom / Switzerland
Awards
2026
Swiss Design Awards, Finalist, Switzerland
2025
Jury Prize, Fotofestival Lenzburg, Switzerland
2024
Picto Talent Prize, France
Verzasca Photo Festival Residency, Ticino, Switzerland
Palazzo Trevisan Residency, Pro Helvetia, Italy
2023
Support for Contemporary Documentary Photography, CNAP, France
Research Grant for Doble Moral, Pro Helvetia, Switzerland
2022–2023
2–12 Residency, Cité Internationale des Arts, Paris, France
2022
Swiss Design Awards, Finalist, Switzerland
Production Grant for A Man in Public Space, Ville de Lausanne, Switzerland
2021
Promotion Relève de la Photographie, Pro Helvetia, Switzerland
2019–2020
Olympus Recommended Fellowship, Germany / Switzerland / Netherlands
Aperture First Photobook Award, Finalist with Hola Mi Amol, Paris Photo, France
Photobook Publishing Grant, Pro Helvetia, Switzerland
2018
Promotion Relève de la Photographie, Pro Helvetia, Switzerland
Unseen Dummy Award, Finalist with Hola Mi Amol, Netherlands
VFG Swiss Young Talent Award for Photography, Laureate, Switzerland
Excellence Prize in Design & Visual Arts, HES-SO, Laureate, Switzerland
2016
Bourse du Talent, MAP Photography Festival, Laureate, Toulouse, France
Collections
2025
Doble Moral, Bibliothèque nationale de France (BnF), Paris, France
2024
Doble Moral, Fotomuseum Den Haag, The Hague, Netherlands
2022
A Man in Public Space, Photo Elysée, Lausanne, Switzerland
