VISA pour l’Image 2009 exhibitions revealed
The first details of some of the key exhibitions planned for the 21st VISA pour l’Image international festival of photojournalism - to be held in Perpignan, France from 29 August to 13 September 2009 – have emerged.
Among the 2009 exhibitions is a tribute to French photographer Françoise ‘Fifi’ Demulder, who passed away whilst the 2008 VISA pour l’Image show was being staged. The exhibit will include her images from trouble spots around the world such as Vietnam, Angola, Lebanon, Cambodia and Ethiopia.
The work of National Geographic stalwart Steve McCurry will be featured in an exhibition entitled ‘The Unguarded Moment’ which is said to include a selection of images that show “the vast tapestry of human experience and his chance encounters with silhouette and shadow, water and light.”
One of the images of his homeland shot by Afghan photographer Zalmaï from his display ‘Promises and Lies, The Human Cost of the War on Terror’.
Major photojournalism exhibits will include ‘In Whose Name?’ by Abbas (Magnum Photos), covering seven years of ideas and imagery in the wake of 9/11, and ‘Windows of the Soul: My Journeys in the Muslim World’ by Alexandra Avakian (Contact Press Images) which spans nearly two decades of pictures from places such as Gaza and Somalia, as well as images from eight weeks spent with Hezbollah.
The show ‘The Other War’ will showcase the photography of Miquel Dewever-Plana (Agence VU) covering the extreme violence and widespread genocide in Guatemala, whilst Afghan photographer Zalmaï has documented the human tragedy of his home country in the exhibit ‘Promises and Lies, The Human Cost of the War on Terror’.
Female photographer Callie Shell’s (Aurora Photos) intimate reportage, for Time magazine, of the progress of Barack Obama from 2006 to his election victory in 2008 will be shown. Also from a female eye is the ongoing project of Brenda Ann Kenneally – the Canon AFJ Award winner in 2008 – depicting the lives of six young, working class women from the ‘Collar City’ of Troy, New York.
Brenda Ann Kenneally’s ongoing project covers the lives of six working class women, and their families, in the former booming industrial town of Troy, New York.
Other exhibitions already confirmed for Visa pour l’Image 2009 are the touring World Press Photo exhibition and the Daily Press exhibition in which daily newspapers from France and around the world exhibit their best shots of the year in competition for the 2009 Visa d’Or Daily Press award.
From 31 August until 5 September VISA Pour l’Image’s evening screenings will show the photographs that have reflected the main news events from September 2008 to August 2009 as well as specific topics such as Madagascar from 1946 to the present; the 40th anniversary of man first walking on the moon; the 100th birthday of jazz; and the Iranian Revolutions (1929 to 1979).
Canon is the main sponsor of the VISA pour l’Image 2009 event.
You can visit the Visa pour l’Image website to find out more about the latest updates and plans for the 21st VISA pour l’Image international festival of photojournalism.
