Letter from Arles July 5, 2012
“Redoubtable” is a word that keeps repeating in my head as I write this. The sheer amount of photography to be seen at this year’s Rencontres is as formidable as ever. That and the personalities here – reconnecting with colleagues, making new connections and encountering unfamiliar talents, make you feel that you are in the vortex of a whirlwind of photography. This is the center of that universe this week.
The stated mission of this year’s festival is the promotion and celebration of the French school of photography, centered around the products of the Ecole de la Photographie in Arles.
Hmmm. This has proven to be a mixed success from my point of view This is in large part due to my own lack of familiarity with most of these artists. That’s said Vincent Fournier and Petur Thomson will find their way into the art marketplace, and Isabelle La Minh has the potential to find visibility in the museum world as will Mehdi Meddhici whose multi screen video was mesmerizing.
Curator and photographer Alain Desvergne’s work in the American South in the 1960’s was a revelation. ENSP director Christian Milovanoff’s work on view at the Musee Reattu – one of the great small museum venues in the world – was impenetrable, but I loved listening to his sonorous French delivery of short photo histories with an eclectic range of visuals at the start of the evening projections in the Theatre Antiquaire.
At the ateliers among this year’s Discoveries I still find Jonathan Torgovnick’s Rwandan portraits incredibly moving and well made. Sam Falls color abstractions benefitted from being projected at night and I better appreciated his considerations of the basics of photography: time and light. The work by Lucas Foglia, Nelli Palomaki and Aurore Valade was appealing.
I have been here four days and still haven’t made my way through everything or returned to the big shows like Joseph Kodelka because of my commitment to the portfolio reviews. I love meeting talent that is new to me. There is always the potential that you will encounter special work. Le Journal’s chief Jean-Jacques Naudet’s admonition is “that you must see everything!”
Artists at the well administered portfolio sessions were congenial and prepared. I would like to direct attention to Carolle Benitah, Florence Grandidier, Andreas Hirsch, Georg Kuttinger (Dynamic Landscapes), Ji Huyn Kwon, Wim de Schamphelaere (panoramas of African tribes) and especially Arno Schidlowski’s whose work has classic gravitas.
And I want to make special mention of my encounter with retired circus performer, Sylvain Grenjon, whose Mr, Zuper character reminded me that it is delight that is at the heart of photography, and that is what engages me. The work still has me smiling.
William Hunt
