Marion Poussier has just been awarded the Joy of Giving Something's first artist award (they throw in $15,000 with the award which is nice). I've written about JGS before and I'm glad to be reminded of their great virtual exhibition space. Poussier is a young French photographer, who already has a few interesting series under her belt. JGS are showing work from two of these, One Summer and The Free Movement of Desire. I preferred the latter, which focuses on Israel, Lebanon and Iran. As the title of the series suggests, these images show how love and desire exist in the context of the Middle East. I found it refreshing to see a photographic portrayal of this region where war is not the central focus and where passion and even joy are brought to the fore. Some of these images even have a certain sense of insouciance and normalcy. Poussier's website is a little underdeveloped but you can see more of her work there.
Update (28 April 2010): Poussier just sent me a link to her new website which is much better than the old one!