The Arles Photography Festival known as Les Rencontres d’Arles has been running for well over 50 years and is now established as the world’s most influential photography festival.
Running every year from mid-July until early October the festival takes over the small Roman city in the South of France and can be seen in a range of small and large galleries, churches, shops and other exhibition spaces. The main program features over 40 exhibitions from leading photographers worldwide.
This year’s theme was ‘Disobedient Images’ and provided the usual range of exciting, challenging and stimulating work from both established and newer artists.
The works were both eclectic and diverse and showcasing new emerging artists, the conceptual alongside more traditional documentary work.
The quality of exhibitions was consistently high and need plenty of time to enjoy and reflect. A few days, unless you are very selective may not be enough to fully appreciate the work on show. I spent a week and still felt rushed at times.
Personal highlights included;
Nan Goldin’s Stendhal Syndrome – an audio/visual slideshow where Goldin pairs her famously intimate, diaristic photographs of friends and lovers with famous classical artworks. This intellectual and visually striking combination repositions her raw, post-modern portraits as high art, worthy of classical reverence – showing how the personal act of photographic documentation can mirror mythological narratives.
Diana Markosian
A mix of photography, text and video document’s Markosian’s attempt to reconnect with her estranged father after years apart. A deeply personal work – the quality of narrative imagery presents a moving and memorable experience.
Letizia Battaglia
Italian photojournalist Battaglia documented daily life in and around Palermo contrasting the harsh and often brutal culture of the Mafia with everyday documentary images of the local community. The exhibition includes early work from Milan and is a raw contrasting representation of power, politics and everyday living.
There were of cause many other exhibitions worthy of praise. The range and quality of work on display this year was both stimulating and thought provoking. Both established and lesser known artists came together and occupied the same, unified space in what is an increasingly fragmented world. The Arles Photography festival is a must for anyone interested in thoughtful, quality photography and attracts photo-lovers from all over the world. It can get crowded but with so much on offer it is easy to navigate the small city of Arles which has its own charms and provides a great backdrop for this major event.
Jon Leahy
For more information.
https://www.rencontres-arles.com/en
Header image Kourtney Roy, Marilyn Wig 2019
