Jimei x Arles International Photo Festival 2024 : A Wander

A vast blue sky. The sun shines brightly. Feels like 20°C. Artists, curators, museum and gallery directors, journalists, and policymakers are present. The enthusiasm is palpable. It’s late November in Xiamen, China, where the summery vibe and collective excitement reminiscent of months earlier, 11,000 kilometers away, have reappeared—this time with skyscrapers and the city’s grandeur as a backdrop.

Welcome to the Jimei × Arles Festival. The opening ceremony features several notable speakers, including Sylvain Fourrière, Consul General of France in Guangzhou province; RongRong, photographer and co-founder of the festival; and Christophe Wiesner, director of the Rencontres d’Arles, who traveled especially for the occasion. This year is special: 2024 marks the festival’s tenth anniversary and the 60th anniversary of cultural exchanges between France and China.

“Inspired by a shared passion for photography and a deep desire for cultural exchange, we launched this global event dedicated to images ten years ago. Today, Jimei has become a crossroads for ideas and a space for connection—a window into the world’s stories through the power of photography,” explained RongRong during his opening remarks.

Launched in 2015 as the first festival of its kind in China, Jimei × Arles aims to bring contemporary Chinese photography to local and international audiences. Its name reflects this dual ambition: “Jimei,” the Xiamen district hosting the exhibitions, gives evidence of its local importance, while “Arles” represents its global reach and collaboration.

The Exhibitions Begin. Our journey starts at the Exhibition Center, one of the festival’s three venues. Designed for the event, it hosts around 20 exhibitions across two floors. Five are direct selections from Arles, such as Cristina de Middel’s Voyage to the Center of the Earth and Rajesh Vora’s Everyday Baroque, which explore migration themes. Others, like Coline Jourdan’s Raising Dust, François Bellabas’ An Electronic Legacy, and Bruce Eesly’s New Farmer, address environmental issues intertwined with artificial intelligence. Notably, Eesly’s massive broccoli installation has become the emblem of this year’s festival.

On the ground floor, next to the Arles exhibits, a segment focuses on curation—a discipline prominently featured throughout the festival. Of the five installations here, Metal Odyssey, which delves into therapeutic journeys for patients and their families, stood out. It won the Jimei × Arles Curatorial Award for Photography and Moving Image, an honor recognizing emerging Chinese curators and researchers.

The first and second floors house spaces for festival partners, such as Vivo+ and Fujifilm, as well as eight exhibitions competing for the Discovery Award Jimei × Arles, the festival’s flagship prize. The winner receives a 100,000 RMB (€13,000) grant and an exhibition in Arles the following year. One standout was Sino-American artist Alison Chen’s A Hole to the Water, curated by Zhou Yichen and Gan Yingying. Using photography, video, and performance, Chen explores intergenerational connections within her family touching on heritage, trauma, and motherhood, now that she is a mother herself.

Nearby, the poignant Strangers exhibition by Jia Yu, curated by Wang Paopao, left a lasting impression. A school art teacher, Jia Yu has documented Tibetan nomadic families’ living conditions since 2003. In 2020, he revisited those he photographed years earlier to gift them these images. A film chronicles this heartfelt journey, where locals recognize neighbors, children, deceased relatives, or even themselves. The emotional reunions provide families with tangible memories from a pre-smartphone era, preserving their histories.

Jia Yu’s honest, tender work won the Discovery Award Jimei × Arles 2024. Cristina de Middel, director of Magnum Photos, praised it:
“At a time when photography’s future feels uncertain, this project returns to its essence: helping us understand who we are and preserving our memory. It highlights photography as a tool for connection and reflection, transcending aesthetics to emphasize its deeper impact. It also underscores photographers’ responsibility to approach their subjects with humility and integrity, focusing on care and thoughtful representation.”

Exploring Beyond the Exhibition Center. Another iconic venue is the Three Shadows Photography Art Centre, a contemporary photography institution just steps from the main site. Its spacious, minimalist interior hosted workshops and conferences during the opening week. A highlight was a panel discussion with RongRong, Chinese photographer Zhong Weixing, Tokyo-based writer Andrew Maerkle, and Christophe Wiesner. They explored topics such as adapting festivals to increasing digitalization and using cultural events to foster community and urban development. Upstairs, two exhibitions paid tribute to Japanese and Chinese photographers Masahisa Fukase and Luo Bonian.

For the second year, the festival also offered an off-site itinerary, blending urban exploration with local cultural discovery. Collaborating with key locations like the Red Dot Design Museum Xiamen and even tea houses, this initiative aimed to deepen ties between photography and Xiamen’s cultural heritage.

Building Bridges Through Art. Strengthening both local and international connections is the festival’s mission. The recent appointment of Christophe Wiesner as Jimei × Arles’ co-director highlights this intensified collaboration. Wiesner shared his vision:
“Art and creativity play a central role in understanding the world. Events like this contribute to building a shared future where photography becomes a medium of dialogue and unity.”

See you next year!

Jimei x Arles International Photo Festival 2024

Jimei Art Centre
Bullding 12, XInglinwan Business Contro, Jimoi District, Xiamen
www.rencontres-arles.com/fr/jimei-x-arles-2024international-photo-festival

Three Shadows Photography Art Centre
3F, Bullding 2, Xinglinwan Business
Contro, Jimei District, Xiamen
www.threeshadows.cn/cn