Close encounters: Arles festival of photography – in pictures

Enigmatic eggs, US army fashion and Japanese women of the sea feature in exhibitions at this year’s French showcase

Main image: Basic instinct … Kissing in a Bar, New York City, 1977. Photograph: Courtesy of The Mary Ellen Mark Foundation/Howard Greenberg Gallery

  • Back Again / Volver Volver, 2024 (Journey to the Center series)

    Journey to the Center is a series that borrows the atmosphere and structure of the Jules Verne book Journey to the Centre of the Earth to present the Central America migration route across Mexico as a heroic and daring journey. The starting point is Tapachula, the southern border of Mexico with Guatemala, and the journey ends in Felicity, a small town in California officially the ‘centre of the world’. The absurdity of this landmark, from where you can see the border fence, just adds a layer of dystopic disappointment. The final destination is little less than a roadside tourist attraction. Arles: Les Rencontres de la Photographie runs from 1 July–29 Sept
    Back Again [Volver Volver], 2024 (Journey to the Center series)Journey to the Center is a series that borrows the atmosphere and structure of the Jules Verne book Journey to the Center of the Earth to present the Central America migration route across Mexico as a heroic and daring journey rather than a runaway. In this version of the journey, the starting point is Tapachula, the Southern border of Mexico with Guatemala, and the journey ends in Felicity, a small town in California that is the officially “Center of the World”. The absurdity of this landmark, from where you can see the border fence, just adds a layer of dystopic disappointment and becomes the perfect colophon for a contemporary version of a heroic jest, where the final destination is little less than a roadside touristic attraction.

  • The eyes, The ears series, 2002-2004 (I’m So Happy You Are Here)

    I’m So Happy You Are Here (Japanese Women Photographers from the 1950s to Now) offers an exciting new perspective on Japanese photography. The excavation and recovery of women’s work, including this one, serves as a testament to the liberating nature of self-representation and self-expression, and to the importance of photography as a medium to express and share one’s own story. With a focus on material from the 1950s to today, I’m So Happy You Are Here presents over 25 artists from different generations.
    The eyes, The ears series, 2002-2004 (I’m So Happy You Are Here)

  • Kissing in a Bar, New York City, 1977 (Encounters)

    Mary Ellen Mark: ‘What I’m trying to do is make photographs that are universally understood ... that cross cultural lines. I want my photographs to be about the basic emotions and feelings that we all experience.’
    Kissing in a bar, New York City, 1977 (Encounters)MEM “What I’m trying to do is make photographs that are universally understood... that cross cultural lines. I want my photographs to be about the basic emotions and feelings that we all experience,” Grounded in the themes and passions that help distinguish the photographer’s oeuvre, at the heart of Mary Ellen Mark. Encounters are five of her most indepth projects, often realized most definitively in book form. These projects focus on institutionalized women in the Oregon State Hospital, street children in Seattle, as well as sex workers in Mumbai, the needy and dying in Mother Teresa’s charities and travelling circus families in India.

  • Marseille, circa 1976 (Straight to the Point: Pétanque and Jeu Provençal)

    A former reporter with the Rapho agency, Hans Silvester is a tireless traveller. His photographs capture the state of the planet and humanity, subtle examples of the delicacy of an object, the grace of a gesture or a frightening disaster. The exhibition Straight to the Point shows an early observation of the game of boules in Provence in the 1970s. His method, based on a patient connection with his subject, is already apparent.
    Marseille, circa 1976 (Straight to the Point: Pétanque and Jeu Provençal)

  • Sueño húmedo I, 1987 (Vampires Fear No Looking Glass – El Grupo de Cali, Vampirism and Tropical Goth)

    This exhibition is centred on the visual culture around El Grupo de Cali, active in the 1970s and 1980s in Cali, Colombia, an astonishingly creative collective that took an alternative look at the social and urban fabric, particularly marginality. Originally composed by writer Andrés Caicedo and film-makers Luis Ospina and Carlos Mayolo, it gathered significant counter-cultural momentum through its approach to film, notably with the critical documentary Agarrando Pueblo.
    Sueño húmedo I, 1987 (Vampires Fear No Looking Glass – El Grupo de Cali, Vampirism and Tropical Goth)

  • Equipment, goggles, flash blindness, 1974 (Fashion Army)

    The images presented in Fashion Army are drawn from a recently declassified archive covering the late 1960s to early 1990s, consisting of 14,134 scans of negatives from the Natick Soldier Systems Center, a US army’s research and development unit. Although the source of this archive has been identified, its purpose remains unknown. All that remains is the possibility of supposing its intention.
    Equipment, goggles, flash blindness, 1974 (Fashion Army)

  • Thapelo, Thokoza 2017-2018 (Ho tshepa ntshepedi ya bontshepe / To Believe in Something That Will Never Happen series)

    Tshepiso Mazibuko was born in 1995 in the township of Thokoza. Her work delves into the experience of the born-free generation, referring to the black generation born after the end of apartheid, to which she belongs. Through portraits of young people in their daily lives, Mazibuko paints an intimate portrait where frustration and benevolence coexist, violence is latent, where faces are often tense, sometimes strained, occasionally absorbed but rarely light-hearted.
    Thapelo, Thokoza 2017-2018 (Ho tshepa ntshepedi ya bontshepe / To Believe in Something That Will Never Happen series)

  • Bords de mer, 2024 (Seasides)

    Part of the 2024 Cultural Olympiad, the Seasides exhibition features the work of five photographers living and working in the Bouches-du-Rhône area: Françoise Beauguion, Simon Bouillère, Julia Gat, Pierre Girardin and Maude Grubel. This exceptional display, on a 74-metre-long outdoor wall in full view of the public, questions our relationship with a maritime space shared by all, through sporting and leisure activities, family and friendships, as well as social and environmental concerns.
    Bords de mer, 2024 (Seasides) SEASIDES Part of the 2024 Cultural Olympiad, the Seasides [Bords de mer] exhibition features the work of five photographers living and working in the Bouches-du-Rhône area: Françoise Beauguion, Simon Bouillère, Julia Gat, Pierre Girardin and Maude Grubel. This exceptional display, on a 74-metre- long outdoor wall in full view of the public, questions our relationship with a maritime space shared by all, through sporting and leisure activities, family and friendships, as well as social and environmental concerns.

  • Cwmbach, Wales, 1979

    Echoing the tremors of a fragmented world, Stéphane Duroy’s photographs seize the viewer with a haunting sense of absence. Building on his experience as a photographer for the Sipa press agency, Duroy’s work includes four major projects in England, Berlin, Eastern Europe and the US. Duroy’s camera has engaged with that portion of humanity who have fallen victim to poverty, war or social determinism. His oeuvre is unique and defies classification.
    Echoing the tremors of a fragmented world, Stéphane Duroy’s photographs seize the viewer’s imagination with a haunting sense of absence. For over forty years, he has criss- crossed Europe and the United States in the wake of the cataclysms which shaped the 20th century. Building on his experience as a photographer for the Sipa press agency, Stéphane Duroy went on to tirelessly amass a body of work comprised of four major projects in England, Berlin, Eastern Europe and the United States. A member of the VU’gency since 1986, he casts an unflinching eye on our epoch. In 2009, Duroy reinvented his book Unknown (2007), adding layers of material, collages of press clippings, anonymous photographs, paintings and torn pages. Over the course of half a century, Stéphane Duroy’s camera has engaged with that portion of humanity who have fallen victim to poverty, war or social determinism. His oeuvre constitutes a unique work of art defying classification.

  • Underwater, 1965 (Ama)

    For more than 3,000 years, ama, the Japanese ‘women of the sea’, have populated the shores of the archipelago, free-diving for seaweed and abalone. Their special place in the Japanese imagination, their sensual connection to the water, their fearlessness and sovereignty have fascinated poets and artists for centuries. Japanese photographer Uraguchi Kusukazu, devoted over 30 years to documenting their lives, in their most diverse aspects: deep-sea dives, harvests near the shore, portraits, collective scenes on the beach and in the amagoya – an exclusively female enclave.
    Underwater, 1965 (Ama)For more than three thousand years, Ama, the Japanese “women of the sea,” have populated the shores of the archipelago, free-diving for seaweed and abalone. Their special place in the Japanese imagination, their sensual connection to the water, their fearlessness and sovereignty have fascinated poets and artists for centuries. Japanese photographer Uraguchi Kusukazu, a native of Shima (Mie Prefecture) on the Pacific Coast, devoted over thirty years to documenting the lives of the ama in his region, in their most diverse aspects: deep-sea dives, harvests near the shore, portraits, collective scenes on the beach and in the amagoya —an exclusively female enclave—and their daily relationship with Shintoism, culminating in the summer at the time of the matsuri (summer festivals).

  • Untitled, 2023 (Sedimentary Partitions)

    Through glimpses of life, young Belgian photographer Alassan Diawara’s images explore youth, the connections between different generations, and a certain essence of the Gard and the Camargue. His photographs are presented in dialogue with Zineb Sedira’s works on the subject of familial and cultural transmission.
    Untitled, 2023 (SEDIMENTARY PARTITIONS) Alassan Diawara has created a new series of photographs, for which he spent several months exploring Nîmes and its surroundings, encountering many people in the process. Through glimpses of life, the young Belgian photographer’s images explore youth, the connections between different generations in families and communities, and seek to capture a certain essence of the Gard and Camargue imaginary.His photographs are presented in dialogue with Zineb Sedira’s works on the subject of familial and cultural transmission.

  • Île du Levant, 1935 (Paradis naturistes)

    For more on this photograph, see the Big Picture
    Île du Levant, 1935 (Paradis naturistes)

  • Untitled, 2024 (I Hate Travels and Explorers)

    Nelly Maurel has created a collection of ‘ethnographic photographs’ based on a simple subjects: women handling and ‘activating’ eggs or showing themselves with eggs in unusual ways. This is a series of enigmatic images, whose meaning is sometimes hard to grasp – but at the same time they seem credible because they look so familiar. These images mimic those of anthropological photography, but also of documentary and artistic photography, known and exhibited in western countries.
    Untitled, 2024 (I HATE TRAVELS AND EXPLORERS ) Nelly Maurel has created a collection of “ethnographic photographs” based on a fairly simple subject: women handling and “activating” eggs or showing themselves with eggs in unusual ways. What we discover is a series of enigmatic images, which may have us doubt their authenticity because their meaning is so hard to grasp— but at the same time seem credible because the photographs look so familiar. These images mimic those of anthropological photography, of anthropological travel, but also of documentary and artistic photography, known and exhibited in Western countries. Nelly Maurel gets these images by using tools derived from AI, artificial intelligence, and other complementary image technologies, to harmonise them, edit them, embellish them, and make them believable.

  • Souvenir d’Arles, Petit-Déjeuner très léger, 1991 (Touching Silence)

    Grzegorz Przyborek’s photographic world draws its inspiration from visions and dreams, with a strong political undertone. Each of his images can take months to materialise. The ‘dream’ is initially turned into a very accurate drawing. Then, each part of the image involves the patient construction of all its constituent elements.
    Souvenir d’Arles, Petit-Déjeuner très léger, 1991 (Touching Silence)

  • New York City, 1969 (Lee Friedlander Framed by Joel Coen)

    Lee Friedlander Framed by Joel Coen is a collaboration between the US photographer and the renowned film-maker. Through 70 photographs and a film, it looks back at Friedlander’s 60-year career. Coen’s choices encapsulate his singular approach to composition and unveils an unlikely kinship between the two artists: they both explore the insidious power of images – fragmented frames, deceitful composition, disjointed shots, mirror effects. The exhibition displays the prints like strange, anonymous, individual tiny tales.
    Title?? (Lee Friedlander framed by Joel Coen)LUMA Arles is presenting Lee Friedlander Framed by Joel Coen, an exhibition born out of the collaboration between the US photographer and the renowned filmmaker. Through 70 photographs and a film, the exhibition takes a look back at Lee Friedlander’s 60-year career. Joel Coen’s choice encapsulates his singular approach to composition and unveils an unlikelykinship between the two artists: they both explore with equal fascination the insidious power of images—fragmented frames, deceitful composition, disjointed shots, mirror effects. As a true cinematic mise en abyme, the exhibition displays the prints like strange, anonymous, individual tiny tales.

  • Brothers, New York, 1981 (All in the Name of the Name: the Sensitive Surfaces of Graffiti)

    From signs left by hobos to those that adorned the silver subway cars in New York in the 1970s, graffiti is a kinetic form of writing, using the lines formed by the rails as its backdrop. Born from imbalance, graffiti grows on the verticality of architecture, in its nooks and crannies, on its grime and in its dead ends. Bringing together around 40 international artists, All in the Name of the Name brings together visions of disorder to create the imagery of chaos.
    Brothers, New York, 1981 (All in the Name of the Name The sensitive surfaces of graffiti) From the signs left by hobos to those that adorned the silver subway cars in New York in the 1970s, graffiti is a kinetic form of writing, using the lines formed by the rails as its backdrop. Born from imbalance, graffiti grows on the verticality of architecture, in its nooks and crannies, on its grime and in its dead ends. It is a form of vandalism that brings to light forgotten surfaces. It is a romantic practice in the way it deals with time. // Bringing together around forty international artists, All in the Name of the Name brings together visions of disorder to create the imagery of chaos. Documentary, atmospheric and action photography, intimate archives, burnt out, forgotten memories, pictorial photography, police photography—the exhibition unfurls the negative film of graffiti, a revelation of what is stirring under the surface of urban life.

  • Celebrating the New Year, 2013-2018 (Modernity’s Fracture: The Odyssey of Returning Hometown), Jimei x Arles Discovery award winner

    Facing the fractures of modernity, Lahem explores the contrast between the Chinese metropolis where he resides, and Sibei, his hometown village nestled in the southern mountains of Jiangxi province. Hometown has been Lahem’s central creative theme for 15 years. Since 2007, Sibei village is a backdrop to explore dimensions like land, identity, migration, and transformation.
    Celebrating the New Year, 2013-2018 (Modernity’s Fracture: The Odyssey of Returning Hometown)JIMEI × ARLES DISCOVERY AWARD WINNER Facing the unbearable fractures of modernity, Lahem has been exploring his dynamic position between the Chinese metropolis where he resides and Sibei, his hometown village nestled in the southern mountains of Jiangxi province. Hometown has been Lahem’s central creative theme for 15 years. Since 2007, Lahem has navigated a nomadic state between Sibei and the city, using Sibei Village as a backdrop to explore dimensions like land, identity, migration, and transformation.

  • Hong Kong Vertigo, 2024 (How Was Your Dream?)

    This exhibition explores the complexity of engagement through the prism of migration, globalisation, and identity crises. Through these projects, the artists offer a committed approach to issues ranging from social movements and the fight against police violence to the questioning of security systems and the human and ecological tensions caused by our electronic waste. The exhibition also probes our personal engagement with society and the search for meaning in our daily lives, revealing our desires, our beliefs, but also our deepest fears.
    Hong Kong Vertigo, 2024 (How Was Your Dream?)The exhibition explores the complexity of engagement through the prism of migration, globalization, and identity crises. Through these projects, the artists offer a committed approach to issues ranging from social movements and the fight against police violence to the questioning of security systems and the human and ecological tensions caused by our electronic waste. The exhibition also probes our personal engagement with society and the search for meaning in our daily lives, revealing our desires, our beliefs, but also our deepest fears. To mark the 10th anniversary of the photography prize awarded by the Manuel Rivera-Ortiz Foundation, a tribute will be paid to Camille Lepage, whose talent as a photojournalist remains etched in our memories despite her tragic death. Her unwavering commitment to bearing witness to the often unknown realities of the world deserves to be celebrated and honored.
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