Rencontres d’Arles 2022: the world and its struggles through the lens of photographers | Knowledge of the Arts

Until September 25, discover the 53rd edition of the Arles Photographic Meetings. On the program: exhibitions on the environment, women artists and representations of minorities.

In the second edition of the Arles Photographic Meetings of the Christoph Wiesner era, we come across all the current concerns of artists: the environment (Arthur Jafa, Tito Gonzalez Garcia and Florencia Grisanti), women artists (like Lee Miller or Babette Mangolte) and the representation of blacks. A moderately full program, with around forty varied exhibitions (not counting those offered in the Grand Arles Express), and a concentration of events in Luma Arles On view until September 25.


Movement according to Babette Mangolte

Photographer and experimental filmmaker, Babette Mangolte is not known to the general public apart from publishers who regularly publish her pictures of dance and theater performances. From Yvonne Rainer to Merce Cunningham, from Lucinda Childs to Bob Wilson, she followed all the avant-garde plays of the 1970s and 1980s in New York. In her blacks and whites framing the artists as closely as possible (already exhibited at the Rochechouart museum in 2019), she tracks the movement and the place of bodies in space. We see on the left Opal Loop by Trisha Brown with the Cloud Setup by Japanese artist Fujiko Nakaya and, on the right, Lateral Pass by Trisha Brown with sets and costumes by Nancy Graves.

Trisha Brown, Opal Loop (1980) and Lateral Pass (1985) by Babette Mangolte, presented in the exhibition “Babette Mangolte”, Rencontres Photographiques d’Arles, Sainte Anne Church, 2022 (© Guy Boyer)

Double course for an unknown

Even if at first glance Estefania Penafiel Loaiza’s exhibition may seem heterogeneous in its form with its script pages, its videos and its photographic prints, it appears very coherent as soon as one immerses oneself in its story. The photographer indeed follows her aunt, who made believe she was leaving for Europe but in fact stayed in Ecuador to engage in a revolutionary movement. It is therefore an investigation following the false clues left by the mysterious Carmen and a report on what this woman could have become.

Carmen (Rehearsals) (2022) by Estefania Penafiel Loaiza, presented in the exhibition

Carmen (Rehearsals) (2022) by Estefania Penafiel Loaiza, presented in the exhibition “Estefania Penafiel Loaiza”, National School of Photography, Arles, 2022 (© Guy Boyer)

The James Barnor Revelation

During the forty years of his activity as a photographer, the Ghanaian James Barnor displayed ” the utopia of a common world, beyond the nationalisms of the second half of the 20th century “. This first retrospective in France confronts some of his most famous images (among a fund of 30,000 negatives!) and their publications placed in the windows. The work of this artist, now 93 years old, links two very different worlds: Accra, where he began his career, and London, where he lives.

James Barnor, Peter Dodoo, yoga student of Mr. Strong, Studio Ever Young, Jamestown, Accra, circa 1955, featured in the exhibition 'James Barnor.  Stories”, Arles Photographic Encounters, Luma Arles, 2022. Courtesy of the artist.

James Barnor, Peter Dodoo, yoga student of Mr. Strong, Studio Ever Young, Jamestown, Accra, circa 1955, featured in the exhibition ‘James Barnor. Stories”, Arles Photographic Encounters, Luma Arles, 2022. Courtesy of the artist.

A feminist vanguard

Starting from the funds of the Verbund Collection in Vienna, this exhibition installed at the General Mechanics draws up a broad panorama around the image of women. Exposing sexism and social inequalities that women face because of their race and class. It is at the same time fascinating by the inclusion of French artists (Annette Messager, Orlan) in this vast committed international movement but annoying at times as the criticisms against “patriarchal power” are supported.

Tribunal (1977) by Penny Blinger, presented in the exhibition “A feminist avant-garde”, Rencontres photographies d'Arles, Mécanique générale, Luma Arles, 2022 (© Guy Boyer).

Tribunal (1977) by Penny Blinger, presented in the exhibition “A feminist avant-garde”, Rencontres photographies d’Arles, Mécanique générale, Luma Arles, 2022 (© Guy Boyer).

In the Dior color

If the various proposals of the Roederer Foundation left me a little unsatisfied, those of the Dior Prize for photography and visual arts for young talents hooked me at least for two artists. On one side the Englishman Joseph Craven and his idle models. On the other, Spaniard Jesus Torio and his streaked images from a broken printer. These are scanned and recolored to accentuate their abstraction and pictoriality.

Lost Memoirs (2022) by Jesus Torio, presented in the exhibition

Lost Memoirs (2022) by Jesus Torio, presented in the exhibition “The Art of color”, Rencontres photographies d’Arles, Mécanique générale, Luma Arles, 2022 (© Guy Boyer)

Arthur Jafa superstar

By entrusting two halls to Arthur Jafa, the Luma Foundation wanted to show its current importance. It tells the story of the United States and the violence brought to black populations by assemblages of images mounted in films or in cut-out wooden sculptures. In the Grande Halle, a projection of Aghdra shows the darkness at the end of the Anthropocene and responds to installations evoking the power of music (Miles Davis) and spiritual life (with bolis from Mali). A total work of art and a reflection on our threatened environment.

Aghdra (2022) by Arthur Jafa, featured in the “Live Evil” exhibition.  Arthur Jafa

Aghdra (2022) by Arthur Jafa, featured in the “Live Evil” exhibition. Arthur Jafa”, Arles Photographic Encounters, General Mechanics and Grande Halle, Luma Arles, 2022 (© Guy Boyer)

Travels of Chun Hua Wu

After “10099 KM | France-Taiwan”, shown in the Davioud Pavilion as part of the “Summer in the Luxembourg Garden” event, Taiwanese artist Chun Hua Wu is presenting two exhibitions in Arles during the Rencontres. At the La Belle Étoile gallery, Chun Hua Wu continues to explore the correspondences between Taiwanese and Corsican landscapes, while at the Aux Docks d’Arles gallery the photographer offers an interior journey inspired by his native island. Influenced by both Chinese and Japanese culture, the artist offers poetic and symbolic shots, in opposition to the aesthetics of Western canons.

Left: Chun Hua Wu, Sun Moon Lake, Nantou, 2021 Right: Chun Hua Wu, Baoan Temple, Taipei, 2020 presented in the exhibitions “Flowing Cloud” at the La Belle Étoile gallery and “Ici, Ailleurs/Here Elsewhere” at the Aux Docks gallery in Arles.  ©DR

Left: Chun Hua Wu, Sun Moon Lake, Nantou, 2021 Right:
Chun Hua Wu, Baoan Temple, Taipei, 2020 presented in the exhibitions “Flowing Cloud” at the La Belle Étoile gallery and “Ici, Ailleurs/Here Elsewhere” at the Aux Docks d’Arles gallery. ©DR


“Arles 2022, the Encounters of Photography”
In all the city
www.rencontres-arles.com
From July 4 to September 25

Rencontres d’Arles 2022: the world and its struggles through the lens of photographers | Knowledge of the Arts