What not to miss at the 50th edition of Arles’ photo festival

Held each year in the Southern French city of Arles, the annual photography festival, Les Rencontres d’Arles has gained a notable reputation as one of the leading platforms for emerging and established image-makers since its foundation in 1970. The name itself — ‘rencontres’ translates literally as ‘meetings’ in English — suggests the intimacy and inter-communication between artists, curators and visitors as the city plays host to a diverse range of exhibitions, panel discussions, workshops and screenings, from July through to September.

To celebrate the 50th edition of the festival, this year’s programme includes no less than 50 exhibitions to mark the occasion. A plethora of prominent and emerging artists are showcasing their work across explorative exhibition sequences, such as My Body Is a Weapon, On the Edge and Building the Image. Read on for our selection of what not to miss at this year’s event — you won’t be disappointed.

JJ Levine — Family

Montreal-based artist JJ Levine explores themes of sexuality and identity in his intimate portrait shots. Having photographed members of the LGBTQ+ community in his home-town for over ten years, Family marks a progression in the stories of Levine’s friends and acquaintances, as birth and death impact their lives and lead them in new directions. Shot in domestic settings, the portraits retain an element of subdued everyday normality, while colour, composition and a direct gaze make for striking stills of the artist’s subjects.

Ground Control 
1 July – 22 September

An Unusual Attention

Each year, the works of several graduates from the École Nationale Supérieure de la Photographie, France’s only arts institute dedicated to photography, are invited to display at the Rencontres d’Arles. This year, the jury have selected the works of emerging artists Théa Gueniot, Louise Mutrel, Timothée Pugeault and Gaël Sillèredisphave with a series of photographs that explore the definitions and attributes of contemporary society.

La mécanique générale 
1 July – 22 September

Restless Bodies: East German Photography 1980 – 1989

Curated by Sonia Viss, winner of the Rencontres d’Arles curatorial research fellowship, Restless Bodies investigates the photography of artists such as Sibylle Bergemann, Eva Mahn and Ute Mahlerm, who worked during the final decade of the GDR before the fall of the Wall in 1989. Dissecting the images as a visual document of this fascinating and often unrepresented moment in modern history, the works present an insight into themes that defined everyday life during this era, from the struggle to retain individuality within an authoritarian state, to surveillance and a spectrum of social taboos.

Les Forges 
1 July – 22 September

Walls of Power: Man-made Barriers throughout Europe

Fellow recipient of the curatorial research fellowship István Virágvölgyi has curated a collection of photographs, videos and objects that focus on the depictions of walls and boundaries, ubiquitous symbols for the concepts of statehood and nationalism, conflict, fear and strategic othering. Featuring artists such as Lvova Anastasiya, Sergi Cámara and Tamás Sóki, the exhibition details the physical and imagined power of delineating structures with reference to examples such as the US-Mexican border, Israel and the West Bank, and South Ossetia, across three sections: “Walls of Influence”, “Walls of Segregation,” and “Walls of Migration”.

Maison des Lices 
1 July – 25 August

Home Sweet Home: 1970-2018, The British Home, a Political History

With works from well-known names including Juno Calypso, Martin Parr and Gillian Wearing, Home Sweet Homeoffers insight into the quirks and mundanity of the British home, hinting towards greater socio-political issues all the while celebrating cultural diversity. Both a nostalgic tribute to British culture — at a time when it may feel as though there is not much to celebrate about being British — and a glance into everyday life from the 1970s to present day, there is a certain amount of comfort to be found in the images, garish wallpaper and all.

Maison des peintres 
1 July – 22 September

Pixy Liao — Experimental Relationship

The images from New York-based, Chinese artist Pixy Liao’s ongoing project Experimental Relationship are entrancing, poignant and playful, re-imagining the inter-cultural contexts that influence personal relationships and subverting gender norms. The works depict Liao as a dominant figure reflected by the more submissive figure of her boyfriend, Moro, who is often used as a prop or supported by the primary subject of Liao. The contrast of female dominance with male vulnerability is still somewhat unfamiliar and radical territory, but is crafted by Liao in a way that strips neither figure of their own agency. Above all, the series disposes of a heteronormative stance to give way to raw and intimate scenes of a couple in love.

Croisière 
1 July – 22 September

The Rencontres d’Arles opens 1 July — 22nd September. For more information and a full programme of exhibitions, see here.