Artist Spotlight with Guillaume Petermann!
Guillaume Petermann is a French documentary photographer based in Brussels, whose work combines a photojournalistic eye with the formal sensitivity of portrait and landscape photography to explore the relationship between human beings, nature and cultural identity.
He received an Honorable Mention at Trieste Photo Days Festival 2025 for his project “Harar: The Pact of the Hyenas,” which participated in the URBAN ANIMALS Open Call created by Exhibit Around and explores the relationship between humans and animals, as well as the way animals have adapted to urban environments.
Created in eastern Ethiopia in 2023, the project documents a centuries-old bond between the inhabitants of Harar and the spotted hyenas living around this UNESCO World Heritage walled city.
Every evening, Abbas Saleh, known as the “Hyena Man,” calls the hyenas by name in the darkness, and up to forty animals emerge from the shadows to receive food from his hands in a ritual passed down through generations.
In the video interview, Petermann shares firsthand what it was like to document this nocturnal ritual and the emotions he experienced while coming face to face with these fascinating predators, inviting us to reflect on what it truly means to share a city with the wild.
Watch the full video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LK4tMNvb5jo&t=52s
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