Through November 11, 2012, these 15 never- seen before photo series by some of today’s greatest photojournalists will be on view in different sites in Saint-Brieuc, France. Entry is free.
Watching the second hand of a clock – Ami Vitale (US)
Kashmir is at the heart of a geopolitical conflict that has caused the death of 80 000 people over the past twenty years. India and Pakistan are endlessly snatching the small piece of land back from one another, without seeking an end to the war.
Ami Vitale’s project is to reveal the breathtaking beauty of the Kashmir landscape, far from the images carried by the media, and to show the spiritual tolerance of the territory’s inhabitants, where Islam, Buddhism and Hinduism co-exist in harmony.
White nights from the Baltic States to Russia – Claudine Doury (FR)
In latitudes beyond the polar circles, a particular phenomenon occurs at the time of the summer solstice: the White Nights. The peoples of the north have always, so it would seem, celebrated the return of light after months of total obscurity. Today we are seeing a renewal of these pagan rites all around the polar circle, particularly in the Baltic countries and Russia. Claudine Doury invites us to follow the preparations and take part in two of these festivals. Firstly, Ivan Kupala Night, which is celebrated in the Slavic world at the beginning of July each year. It is a pagan festival that celebrates a fertility rite supposed to bring a good harvest and which is accompanied by witchcraft, animism and erotic games.
Another White Nights celebration takes place mid-June in Saint-Petersburg: Scarlet Sails. This festival celebrates the end of the school year and brings together thousands of youngsters each year along the Neva River.
Man and nature on the French West Coast – Jim Brandenburg (US)
After falling in love with Brittany on a recent trip, Jim Brandenburg, who is passionate about nature, offers us a photographic study of the major emblematic tourist sites in Normandy and Brittany: from the Etretat cliffs to Mont St Michel, to the Ile de Bréhat and Noirmoutier. He seeks to contrast photos of these sites as they exist in the tourist’s imagination (post card snapshots) with a report on the current use made of these places and the way in which they are developed and shaped by man.
Belgique – Cédric Gerbehaye (BE)
Belgium is a State that unites two peoples that, to start with, had absolutely nothing in common. Belgium – a country half-way between Latin and Germanic cultures. 180 years of stormy, tense, difficult relations… Today the Flemish Nation-State that has become rich wants its economic independence, convinced that it will do better once it has got rid of the “millstone” of the Walloons.
This work aims to compose a personal portrait of this territory and to seek out homo belgicus, if indeed he exists. This study will endeavour to show a Belgium of faces, looks, local customs, everyday moments and landscapes.
India and the Wall of Shame – Gaël Turine (BE)
Barriers between countries, walls around towns, and fences through districts – these are the solutions imposed on millions of people throughout the world on the pretext of fighting terrorism, illegal immigration or else drug trafficking. In 1992 the Indian government decided to build a border wall between India and neighbouring Bangladesh.
Before the construction of the barrier, thousands of Bangladeshis used to cross the border every day to work in India. This was not felt to be migration, more simple comings and goings. The purpose of the report is to show that the erection of the fence has upset the religious and cultural socio-economic mechanisms that existed before the wall.
Copper Eaters – Gwen Dubourthoumieu (FR)
The Democratic Republic of the Congo possesses one of the richest soils on the planet, with, in particular, abundant copper resources. From colonial times to Mobutu’s dictatorship, mining has constituted a significant economic stake for the powers in place. By creating a public company with a monopoly on mining in Katanga, Gécamines, the State was guaranteed an inexhaustible revenue fund for years. But Marshall Mobutu’s predatory management launched a widespread liberalisation of the sector, marking the starting point of an anarchic “copper rush”.
Motivated by economic necessity akin to survival, artisanal miners work with no protection or safety measures and expose themselves to accidents that could cost them their lives every day. Today there are nearly 150,000 of them, including a significant number of woman as well as children, some of whom are very young. Uprisings are frequent but brutally put down by the privileged, a speculator minority close to those in power.
Off the radar – Tomas Van Houtryve (BE)
Ebeye is the most populous island of the Kajalein Atoll in the Marshall Islands. Fifteen thousand inhabitants (one-fifth of the country’s total population) live in an area covering 32 hectares. Some of Ebeye’s inhabitants are victims or descendants of victims of radiation from the nuclear test Castle Bravo, the most powerful H-bomb to date, tested by the U.S. on 1st March 1954. The American Authorities evacuated Bikini and Rongelap, the two most-affected atolls and most of the islanders settled on Ebeye.
Close by is the Ronald Reagan Ballistic Missile Defense Test Site, a vast 750 000 square miles missile test site in the Pacific Ocean. The 1 500 soldiers working on the site live on Ebeye island in a sort of “Club Med”, separated from the rest of the islanders. Tomas Van Houtryve offers a report on the inhabitants of the island, nicknamed the slum of the Pacific: unemployment, poverty and illness inherited from the nuclear tests.
Photo Reporter, festival international de la Baie de St Brieuc 2012
Exhibitions from October 19th to November 11th ,2012
Watching the second hand of a clock – Ami Vitale
Man and nature on the French West Coast – Jim Brandenburg
Belgique – Cédric Gerbehaye
L’Inde et le mur de la honte – Gaël Turine
Maison du Festival
Bâtiment de la roche Bobois (près de la bibliothèque de st brieuc) rue du 71e rI.
22000 Saint-Brieuc – France
Monday – Saturday – 11am – 6.30. Sunday 2pm – 6pm
Des Etats Baltes à la Russie, les nuits blanches – Claudine Doury
Espace Victor Hugo
Place de l’eglise
22440 Ploufragan – France
Monday : 3pm-6pm, Tusday and Friday : 3pm – 7pm, Wednesday and Saturday 10am – 12.30am – 2pm – 6pm
Closed on Sunday
Les mangeurs de cuivre – Gwen Dubourthoumieu (FR)
Siège du Crédit Agricole
espace Argoat, La croix tual
22440 Ploufragan – France
Monday – Saturday – 10am – 6pm.
Closed on Sunday
• Off the radar – Tomas Van Houtryve (BE)
Galerie du Point Virgule
9, rue Saint-Pern
22360 Langueux
Tuesday : 4.30pm – 6.30pm, Wednesday : 10am – 6.30pm, Friday : 2pm – 6.30pm, Saturday : 10am – 4.30pm, Sunday : 2pm – 6pm
