Bristol Photo Festival returns for second edition

Found­ed in 2020, Bris­tol Pho­to Fes­ti­val ​“aims to cel­e­brate the pow­er of diver­si­ty of con­tem­po­rary pho­tog­ra­phy”. The fes­ti­val, the board of which includes Marine Merindol, Chief Oper­at­ing Offi­cer for Mag­num Pho­tos and Mag­num Pho­tog­ra­ph­er Mar­tin Parr, launched to ​‘con­sol­i­date Bristol’s emerg­ing rep­u­ta­tion as a lead­ing city for pho­tog­ra­phy beyond Lon­don.’

The festival’s inau­gur­al edi­tion took place in the mid­dle of the Covid-19 pan­dem­ic in 2021, lead­ing to an extend­ed 9‑month oper­a­tion peri­od, deliv­er­ing exhi­bi­tions and engage­ment pro­grammes cen­tred on the theme ​‘A Sense of Place’ at venues across the city, which is the largest in England’s south west region. Almost 200,000 vis­i­tors, a quar­ter of which trav­elled from beyond the city, vis­it­ed the fes­ti­val with over 1,000 peo­ple tak­ing part in pub­lic pro­gramme events includ­ing talks, work­shops and sym­posia.

New com­mis­sions for the fes­ti­val includ­ed work from Lebo­hang Kganye who’s com­mis­sion for the Geor­gian House Muse­um went on to be shown at the Venice Bien­nale 2022.

Three years on and the fes­ti­val is back for its sec­ond edi­tion. Open­ing in autumn 2024 the fes­ti­val pro­gramme will focus on a world in con­stant motion, cen­tred on the theme ​‘The World A Wave’. The exhi­bi­tions, edu­ca­tion and engage­ment pro­grammes will look glob­al­ly, whilst retain­ing a local lens- reach­ing out to under­rep­re­sent­ed com­mu­ni­ties and people.

Ale­jan­dro Acin, Bris­tol Pho­to Fes­ti­val direc­tor told Huck, ​“Pho­tog­ra­phy is a unique cre­ative medi­um to expe­ri­ence the world anew. In a time of mul­ti­ple crises, we need to think of images more than ever. I want the fes­ti­val to be a space full of nuanced and unex­pect­ed sto­ries that fos­ter greater under­stand­ing of our shared world. Bris­tol Pho­to Festival’s qual­i­ty and ambi­tion is pos­si­ble thanks to the great col­lab­o­ra­tion we have estab­lished with the main cul­tur­al insti­tu­tions in the city and the sup­port of fun­ders and sponsors.”

The 2024 edi­tion will include work from pho­tog­ra­phers across the globe includ­ing Ariel­la Azoulay from Israel. In 2009, Azoulay vis­it­ed the Inter­na­tion­al Com­mit­tee of the Red Cross head­quar­ters in Gene­va, Switzer­land to view archival pho­tographs of Pales­tine tak­en between 1947 and 1950. The images doc­u­ment the forced dis­place­ment of the Pales­tin­ian pop­u­la­tion — an event com­mon­ly known as the ​‘Nak­ba’. Azoulay was instruct­ed that the archival images could not be repro­duced or exhib­it­ed unless strict con­di­tions were met, lim­it­ing the free inter­pre­ta­tion of the mate­r­i­al and ulti­mate­ly of his­to­ry itself. In response, Azoulay decid­ed to redraw the pho­tographs, cre­at­ing a record that exists beyond the con­trol of offi­cial nar­ra­tives and archives.

Else­where a month-long exhi­bi­tion at the city’s M Shed muse­um called ​‘Dream­lines: Pic­tur­ing Bristol’s High Streets’. In 2023, Bris­tol Pho­to Fes­ti­val invit­ed a group of pho­tog­ra­phers, all with strong ties to the city, to devel­op new projects across Bristol’s his­toric high streets and neigh­bour­hoods. They col­lab­o­rat­ed with groups both young and old, includ­ing a local church brass band; a stitch­ing group; a men’s social club; a food bank; and an elders act­ing club.

Exhi­bi­tions will be held in the city’s major visu­al arts insti­tu­tions along­side inde­pen­dent and uncon­ven­tion­al spaces, all accom­pa­nied by a wide events pro­gramme engag­ing with mul­ti­ple aspects of the city of Bris­tol. All exhi­bi­tions are free with dona­tions welcome.

For this year the Fes­ti­val is devel­op­ing a project with local res­i­dents and port work­ers from Avon­mouth to cre­ate a com­mu­ni­ty archive, along­side a pro­gramme of cre­ative activ­i­ties, includ­ing talks, walks, screen­ings and an exhi­bi­tion. With Prison Edu­ca­tion, the fes­ti­val will present The Prison Mobile Library, an edu­ca­tion­al pho­tog­ra­phy project across three sites in the South West of Eng­land. The open­ing week of the fes­ti­val (16−20 Octo­ber 2024) will include artists’ talks, a book fair, tours, and parties.

Bris­tol Pho­to Fes­ti­val open­ing week is 16^th — 20^th Octo­ber

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