Having recently returned from spending a few days at this inspiring festival, I thought I’d share a few highlights from this year’s photography exhibitions. In its 49th year, Rencontres d’Arles has established itself as a prestigious photography festival and over the years has been instrumental in the institutional recognition of photography. As well as all the inspiring photography, I was thrilled to see photographer luminary, William Klein, master of street photography making an appearance at one of the evening screenings.
There are some 40 exhibitions which can cover all disciplines, from a conceptual approach to socially engaged photo-journalism and street photography. There is another important character in all this, the buildings themselves where the photography is displayed. These include chapels, churches, prisons, palace and a disused railway station. The spaces can change and this year you had to walk through a working Monoprix supermarket to access the photographic gems. The often distressed ancient walls offer a magical backdrop to these works of art. Which is why in the spirit of being there, I’ve left in some photo evidence of the locations in which they are held (having taken some snapshots on my smartphone).
Matthiew Gafsou – Augmented Humanity
One of the themes this year at Arles is “Back to the Future” and thought I would kick off with the body of work by پٱ H+, which focuses on the idea of transhumanisn. What I found particularly fascinating is the whole new vocabulary of hash tags dedicated to describing a movement ‘advocating the use of science and technology to enhance human’s physical and mental abilities’.
#Techno_capitalism, #ameliorative, #cyborg, #biopower, #nootropic, #biopunk, #cognitive-sciences, #biomimetics, #augmentation, #orthosis, #biohacking, #body_hacktivism, #techno_progressivism.
One of the subjects that Gafsou photographed for the H+ exhibition is Neil Harbisson, below, who in 2004 became the first person to wear an eyeborg. The inclusion of the eyeborg in his passport photo has been claimed by some to be official recognition of Harbisson as a cyborg.
Jonas Bendiksen – path to redemption?
The body of work titled The Last Testament from , one of my all time favourite photographers, ties in nicely with the main theme running in Arles. The intimate portraits describe seven men who all claim to be the biblical Messiah returned. They hail from different parts of the world including South Africa, Siberia and the UK, the narrative suggesting the world is in need of salvation.
William Wegman – art history with humour
What I found delightful about this particular exhibition Being Human was how it works on so many different levels, laden with nods to conceptual and fashion photography as well as cubist expression. The subjects are Weimaraner dogs called Man Ray and Fay Ray presented as house wife, astronaut, lawyer and other characters and expressing a range of emotions from confident to vulnerable.
Robert Frank – America, a place of shadows
Frank’s work skillfully unravels the underbelly of America through his dramatic use of black and white. As this Guardian article so eloquently describes “Frank’s America is a place of shadows, real and metaphorical. His Americans look furtive, lonely, suspicious. He caught what Diane Arbus called the “hollowness” at the heart of many American lives, the chasm between the American dream and the everyday reality”. This exhibition titled Sidelines combines work from Europe and South America and unpublished photographs from when Frank was travelling in the 1950’s for the seminal book The Americans.
It certainly rekindled my love of black and white photography and appreciate more then ever its eloquence as a medium. I love the silky quality and mood enhancing aesthetic to it. So much so I was compelled to create a lightbox to show some of the most intriguing and stunning black and white images that we have on Alamy.
Nilbar Güres – focus on Turkey
Every year, Rencontres d’Arles provides an expose of photography from a particular country. Last year it was Iran and Colombia. This year it was the turn of Turkish photographers to document contemporary Turkey. I particularly like the work of Artist . In her work, Güreş explores the female identity, the role of women, the relations between women and their homes and public spaces.
Taking Stock
There were many aspects of photography that resonated at this festival – for example why do photographers take the images that they do? They get obsessed with a particular theme or visual.
Take Magnum photographer Rene Burri. The inspiration behind his exhibition in Arles titled came from his obsession with pyramids. This prompted a body of work devoted to photographs which are full of subconscious references to the triangular shape and geometry of Pyramids.
We often talk about local content and local perspectives. There’s an added honesty and nuance to the work which can only be captured by knowing a place inside out. Feng Li in his exhibition White Night now a records the spectacle of everyday life and quirky scenes in Chengdu, China where he lives. He’s far “‘more comfortable at home then in the otherness of distant places’…and ‘unique characters stick to his lens like so many insects drawn to headlights'”. It’s an arresting narrative and I was really drawn to the snap-shot aesthetic of the work.
Storytelling in photography is a wonderful thing. It can answer questions and provoke more questions, giving a better understanding of a place or culture. Taysir Batniji in his Exhibition titled documents the appearance of the photo of the founder in Gaza’s shops, cafes and factories. There’s some analysis as to what this means but generally it’s viewed as a “way for the successor to the shop (a son or close relative), to pay homage to the ‘father’, allowing him to belong and thrive in the place he created.”
Gregor Sailer in The Potemkin Village reveals villages that are nothing but facades documenting a ‘curious architectural phenomena’. The work is beautifully constructed as expected in photographs of architecture but a surprising twist in the narrative of revealing the facades.
I’m ending with photographs from another favourite photographer whose poetic photography has enchanted me for years. These are from his taken on the the Yangtze River, China and exhibited this year at Arles where the question is being asked “Why do we have to destroy to develop?”.
If you have good experiences to share of photo festivals that you find inspiring and have informed your photography then please let us know about it!