Photojournalism Now: September 2014

September 26, 2014

Friday Round Up - 26th September, 2014

This week on Friday Round Up Don McCullin’s exhibition opens in Sydney, John G. Morris in France, plus a look at Filter Festival Chicago, Photoville New York and Guernsey Festival in the Channel Islands. And last chance to see Robert Ashton's and Tom Evangelidis’ shows in Melbourne.

Exhibition: Sydney

Don McCullin
The Impossible Peace
From War Photographs to Landscapes
1958-2011

Don McCullin last year at Visa pour l'Image in front of one of his most
recognised images from the Biafra Civil War 1968 below
(C) Alison Stieven-Taylor

(C) Don McCullin courtesy Contact Press Images

Opening tonight, this exhibition, curated by Robert Pledge of Contact Press Images New York, marks the first time Don McCullin’s photographs have been shown in Australia.

I saw The Impossible Peace last year at Visa pour l’Image, where the retrospective filled the cathedral spaces of the Église des Dominicans in Perpignan, France. This exhibition features McCullin's conflict images, and also his landscape work as well as street photography, particularly his study of the homeless in the UK.

During our interview McCullin told me he is now too old in body to trek the streets of London with camera in hand, but that street photography was something he had greatly enjoyed. “Young photographers don’t need to leave their homeland to find conflict, it is in their own communities, they just have to look,” he said. (My feature interview with Don McCullin will be published next week in NZ Pro Photographer magazine, in print and for iPad).

The Impossible Peace
State Library of NSW in association with Reportage Projects 2014
27 September to 26 October, 2014

Exhibition: Rennes, France

Somewhere in France
John G. Morris

John G. Morris (L) with Robert Pledge Contact Press Images in Rennes 19 September 2014

At 97 years of age the former photo editor of LIFE magazine and the New York Times, John G. Morris is having the time of his life. His new book, Somewhere in France, is being lauded as the most personal view of World War II ever published. And thanks to the book's popularity, Morris is traversing the globe sharing his thoughts on photojournalism, and there are few, if any, who know more about the subject.

During our interview in Paris recently, Morris told me he was busier than ever. “Last week I was in Luxembourg giving a talk. This week I’m going to Rennes for the launch of my exhibition at the Hotel de Ville and a symposium the following day. Next month it’s New York. These are busy times”.

And Morris is loving every moment. If I didn’t know his age, I would have thought he was in his sixties, such is his energy, enthusiasm and sharp recollection.

In Somewhere in France Morris' recollects the summer of 1944. At the time Morris was based in London working for LIFE. Not satisfied with a remote view of the war, he determined to see events for himself. He left the London bureau to join LIFE photographers Robert Capa, George Rodger, Robert Landry, Ralph Morse, David E. Scherman, and Frank Scherschel in Normandy and Brittany, taking with him a dozen rolls of film. He wasn’t a photographer and the pictures taken were for his personal record.

Nearly 70 years later Robert Pledge of Contact Press Images unearthed the images and encouraged Morris to publish a book. Somewhere in France (which was all that soldiers could reveal to loved ones of their location) is the result and features not only Morris’ pictures, but also the love letters he wrote to his wife who was back in the USA.

All photos (C) John G. Morris courtesy Contact Press Images

He says the exhibition of these pictures in Rennes is personally significant for him. “I photographed in Rennes the day it was liberated on August 5th 1944. I walked into the Mayor’s office and there was a man seated at the mayor’s desk. I said 'are you the mayor?' He said no. So I asked, 'where is the mayor?' And he told me the mayor had left during the night. He had been a collaborator”.

The city of Rennes is celebrating the 100 year anniversary of its liberation and Morris’ photographs are being displayed in “gigantic print form on the town square at the Hotel de Ville (below).

My full interview with Morris will be published in the coming weeks. What an absolute delight it was to get the opportunity to speak with Morris who is not only a legend in photojournalism, but a really nice guy too.

Hôtel de Ville
Rennes, France
Until 19 October

Festivals: New York
Photoville

(C) Wall Street Journal

This year Photoville features more than 50 exhibitions in the “Container Exhibition” program spanning the gamut of contemporary photography including curated shows from The Everyday Projects – Africa, Asia, Eastern Europe, Egypt, Iran, Jamaica, Latin America, Middle East and USA; Australian Ashley Gilbertson’s Bedrooms of the Fallen, and so much more.

Photos courtesy of Photoville Instagram

There are also more than a dozen outdoor exhibitions and installations, including Australia’s Head On Portrait Prize exhibition on show at Photoville for the first time. Plus there are workshops and talks and the Photoville FENCE exhibitions featuring work from 55 photographers.

On the FENCE

The Brooklyn FENCE (above), which was the original, and the Boston and Atlanta FENCES, attract thousands of visitors and really take photography to the people in large-sized prints that are impossible to ignore. You can view the Brooklyn FENCE Slideshow here

Check out the Photoville website here
Until 28 September

Festival: Channel Islands
Guernsey Photography Festival

Held in Guernsey in the Channel Islands off the coasts of England and France, this biennial festival presents its fourth edition with the theme “Faith, Family, and Community”. Featuring exhibitions by a diverse group of photographers as well as portfolio reviews, screen projections, live music, education and community streams, Guernsey Photography Festival presents a comprehensive program over four weeks.

This year Australia’s Sam Harris (we’ve adopted him since he moved from the UK to take up digs in Western Australia) has an exhibition of his work "Middle of Somewhere" along with a total of 24 exhibiting photographers including:

Liz Hingley “Under Gods: Stories from the Soho Road"

Abbas “Faces of Christianity”

Arno Brignon “Josephine”

Maria Kapajeva “Family”

Andrei Nacu “In the forsaken garden time is a thief”

David Moore “Pictures from the real world”

Sam Harris "Middle of Somewhere"

Until 18 October
Various Venues
Visit the Guernsey Photography Festival website here

Festivals: Chicago
Filter Photo

This week Filter Photo Festival in Chicago is in full swing with exhibitions, workshops and panel discussions as well as its core focus, portfolio reviews – this year 30 gallery curators and photography experts will review the portfolios. Held in downtown Chicago, Filter Photo is focused on connecting artists with curators and gallery owners and giving emerging artists in particular a unique opportunity to meet with those who may help direct their careers.

This May Have Happened
Group exhibition at David Weinberg Photography

Filter Photo Festival until 28 September
Various Venues
Visit the Filter Photo website for details

Exhibitions: Melbourne
Last chance to see:

Robert Ashton – Into the Hollow Mountains
A Portrait of Fitzroy 1974
Colour Factory

409-429 Gore St 
Fitzroy

Tom Evangelidis – Façade
Edmund Pearce Gallery
Level 2, Nicholas Building
37 Swanston Street
Melbourne

Both Closing Saturday 27 September

September 19, 2014

Friday Round Up - 19th September, 2014

This week on Friday Round Up the festivals continue - Pingyao International Photography Festival opens today in this ancient Chinese city with international and local exhibitions, symposiums, awards and one of the largest photography education programs. In Europe Noorderlicht Photofestival is in full swing in the northern town of Groningen, The Netherlands.

With more than 50 photos on today's blog there's a feast of imagery to enjoy this weekend no matter where you are in the world.

Festivals - China:

Pingyao International Photography Festival

Today the 14th edition of the Pingyao International Photography Festival opens in this UNESCO world heritage city in China’s Shanxi Province with 400 exhibitions featuring more than 2100 photographers and 20,000 images. Exhibitions are held throughout the ancient walled city, indoors and outdoors, bringing photography to an audience in excess of 100,000 and transforming unlikely spaces such as disused factories, into galleries.

This year there are several large international shows feature in the core program with two Australian group shows - The Wizards of Oz and Head On Portrait Prize (Australia) as well as exhibitions showcasing contemporary Baltic, Nordic and German Photography. Plus a group show from New Zealand and the Alexia Foundation grant winners from 2014.

The Wizards of Oz
Featuring ten Australian artists who have participated in the Core Program at the past three editions Ballarat International Foto Biennale held every second August in Australia (Ballarat is 90 minutes from Melbourne).

(C) Meredith O'Shea

Exhibiting artists - Colin Page, Jackie Ranken, John Gollings, Judith Crispin, Kara Rasmanis, Meredith O'Shea, Samantha Everton, Sonia Macak, Tony Hewitt and Vikk Shayen.

Head On Portrait Prize
Also waiving the Australian flag is the Head On Portrait Prize exhibition featuring 40 works, winners and finalists, from the 2014 prize, which is a central feature of the annual Head On Photo Festival held in Sydney.

Finalist - Aldona Kmiec

Winner - Joe Wigdahl

Viewfinders: Contemporary Baltic and Nordic photography
A group show featuring 15 artists from eight countries. Curated by Inga Brūvere.

Viewfinders:
Sweden – Lars Tunbjörk, Thobias Fäldt & Klara Källström
Norway – Marie Sjøvold and Sarah Gerats
Denmark – Astrid Kruse Jensen and Joachim Fleinert
Iceland – Pétur Thomsen
Finland – Sara Bjarland
Estonia – Marge Monko and Paul Kuimet
Lithuania – Indrė Šerpytytė and Mindaugas Ažušilis
Latvia – Ieva Epnere and Ivars Grāvlejs.

To Save a Forest – New Zealand
Curated by John B. Turner and featuring the work of Craig Potton, Ian MacDonald and Martin Hill

(C) Martin Hill

To Save a Forest, is both a celebration of the majesty of the natural world and a cautionary tale of what we may well lose to the rapacious nature of a consumerist society.

Contemporary German Photography
Curated by internationally renowned photo-artist Thomas Kellner and featuring ten German artists.

Daniel Schumann - International Orange
Dirk Hanus - Inner Space
Jutta Schmidt - Freischwimmer
Katharina Mouratidi - Backstage Heroes – Alternative Nobel Prize Laureates
Roger Eberhard - Shanty Town Deluxe
Anna Katharina Zeitler - No Shoes to Dance With
Frank Rothe - No More Angels
Frauke Thielking - Ready, Steady, Go

Gesche Wuerfel - Basement Sanctuaries
Mehmet Ferit Kuyas - Everything you didn’t want to know about me:A Quintology of Diaries Part 5

The Alexia Foundation
For the seventh consecutive year the Alexia Foundation will present an exhibition of the winners of its 2014 Professional and Student Grants - Winner Professional: Sebastian Liste “The New Culture of Violence in Latin America” and winner student, Mehran Hamrahi “Iranian People – Ordinary or Criminals?”

(C) Sebastian Liste “The New Culture of Violence in Latin America”
Salvador de Bahia, Brazil – January 22, 2011: Ana celebrating her sixth birthday. She was born and has grown up inside the abandoned chocolate factory. This impoverished community took up residence here on the coast in Salvador de Bahia. Despite the lack of socio-economic support from the government, they have managed to make a safe place for themselves to live, and form a community of their own, which his safer than the alternatives available to them. However, they are currently being evicted by the government due to being there illegally. Sebastian Liste/Reportage for Getty Images.

(C) Mehran Hamrahi “Iranian People – Ordinary or Criminals?” Sheida, 18, is smoking a cigarette in a cafe. She says "I feel safe in the cafe". Smoking a cigarette is not restricted legally in Iran, however, girls are afraid of smoking in public places. The radical Muslims and traditional people consider this as a abominable act for girls and they might annoy them. Ahvaz (Southern Iran), July 1st 2013

Pingyao International Photography Festival

19-25 September

International exhibitions open until 10 October

To find out more visit the Festival’s website.

Festivals - Europe:

Noorderlicht Photofestival

"An Ocean of Possibilities"

Last year I was fortunate to travel to the northern town of Groningen in The Netherlands to meet with Wim Melis the director of the Noorderlicht Photofestival, which is now in its 21st year. This is, in my opinion, one of the most important festivals in photography, consistently breaking new ground and questioning the relationship between the photograph and its audience.

In 2013 the theme was To Have and Have Not, an exposition on the “causes and agents behind the current global economic and political crisis. An Ocean of Possibilities moves beyond dissecting what went wrong, and looks at the decisive potential of those who go against the tide and plot their own course". 31 photographers are included in An Ocean of Possibilities.

In addition, Noorderlicht this year features six other exhibitions most of which feature multiple artists - Solitude (Danila Tkachenko and Marrigje de Maar), Subcultures, Call of the Wild, Rise, Sustainability (Douglas Gayeton) and Tribute.

Solitude