The third edition of the Les Rencontres Photographiques de Guyane (French Guiana) runs from November 6th to 29th, 2014. This overseas department of France, which shares its border with Brazil and share its coastline with the Amazon forest, is filled with several different communities. Every year, the artistic director, Karl Joseph, chooses to put one of them in the spotlight. The subject of this edition is Haiti, “the pearl of the Antilles,” its people, its landscapes and its emerging generation of photographers.
Primarily focused on Caribbean and South American photography, the festival has tried to include as much of French Guiana as possible. To appeal to the local audience, Joseph has made an attempt to diversify the exhibitions and open up the festival to documentary photography in addition to art photography. The public installation of containers, as well as the evening projections on the famous Place des Palmistes in the center of Cayenne, will allow visitors who wouldn’t normally visit exhibition halls to get to know the festival.
Conferences and guided tours for students help raise awareness and introduce them to visual culture. The program “Guyane, Terre de partage” has managed to make photography accessible to a less experienced but nonetheless curious audience.
Finally, earlier this year saw the discovery of Léon Collin’s photographs of convicts crossing the ocean to the region’s penal colonies. Les Rencontres Photographiques de Guyane featured this historical heritage in its program through an exhibition with Fonds photographique de la ville de Saint Laurent du Maroni.
FESTIVAL
Les Rencontres Photographiques de Guyane 2014
From November 6th to 29th, 2014
Cayenne et Kourou
Guyane
www.rencontresphotographiquesdeguyane.com
With the support of the Comité du Tourisme de la Guyane
