If you are heading for Québec and decide to explore the Gaspé Penninsula, you will be treated to numerous exhibitions spread out across the nearly 12,000 square-mile region along the Saint Lawrence River. Since 2009, the Rencontres Internationales de la Photographie in Gaspésie have presented innovative and daring installations that sometimes blend with the natural landscape. The festival director, Claude Goulet, enjoys new challenges and, every year, surprises and delights visitors with fresh mises-en-scènes: towering over the river from the height of Park Forillon, a work by the artist Jessica Auer is laid out meticulously like a navigation chart. As you take a bucolic stroll, you might glimpse portraits by Claudia Imbert alongside a tree. Installed by the water, a photograph by Charles F. Ouellet seems to echo his work “État des lieux.” The event organizers freely alternate between using classic gallery walls and integrating the image into natural settings, which fully supports the theme of the 6th edition of the festival, Identities and Territories. From Carleton-sur-Mer to Cap-Chat, passing through the valley of Matapédia, the tour is intense but well worth the detour. Like a treasure hunt, throughout the proposed itinerary covering a total of 13 towns, you must keep an eye out for signs pointing towards an exhibition.
Every year, the festival hosts artists-in-residence: the photographer Bogdan Konopka planted his view camera everywhere along the coast of the Gaspé Penninsula, while Caroline Hayeur worked on her project about local adolescents. In Bonaventure, one can admire Benoit Aquin’s light boxes created for his project on Quebec agriculture carried out during his stay in the region. The festival has also partnered this year with Diaphane, a photography center in Picardy, and Photautomnales Festival, and offers an exchange residency program in Gaspésie and in Picardy.
Ranging from documentary photography, such as Yoanis Menge’s breathtaking series on seal hunting, or Elena Perlino’s ethereal shots, to the sculptural photography of Dina Goldstein’s “Fallen Princesses” and experimental photography such as the installation on Bonaventure Island by the Quebec artist duo, Patrick Dionne & Miki Gingras, the festival obeys no boundaries (except budgetary ones) and is open to all types of projects in order to offer a rich and varied program, seasoned with a healthy dose of fresh air and a warm welcome.
FESTIVAL
Rencontres Internationales de la Photographie en Gaspésie
Canada
July – September, 2015
http://www.photogaspesie.ca
