Jimei x Arles 2024

This year, the Jimei x Arles International Photo Festival will focus more deeply on integrating with local culture, exploring the connections between photography and the cultural heritage of Xiamen and its surrounding areas. But as usual, the event will showcase the talent of people from all over the world: China, France, Spain, Japan, India, and more. Through their work, all of those artists explore issues like identity, technology, nature, grief, society, human relationships, poetry, and more. 

In New Farmer, Bruce Eesly uses AI technology to create images that look like propaganda images in the 1960s trying to convince people of the success of the so-called Green Revolution. But in his words, this new series “reflects on our extractive relationship to nature, inviting viewers to take a critical look at our place within the biosphere and the ripple effects of our actions.” On the topic of perception and deception, Coline Jourdan has developed the project Soulever la poussière (Raisingthe Dust) for over three years trying to answer questions like: how to photograph invisible pollution? How to report on toxicity present in the air, soil and rivers that we can’t even perceive? 

Indian photographer Rajesh Vora has also worked on a time-consuming project, Everyday Baroque, from 2014 to 2019. After travelling over six thousand kilometres across four districts in Punjab, he’s garnered an impressive collection of photos of the sculptural objects that adorn rooftops of homes — from battle tanks to airplanes, to animals and footballers. Continuing with the topic of homes, Li Xiaoliang explores intimacy and domesticity in his series New Homes, which has made him travel from Tibet to different regions in China.

One of the most interesting sections is the China Pulse category, which puts together emerging artists whose work is pushing the boundaries of image-making in the 21st century. People like Bai Lin, Wen Hao, Yan Qihan, He Ye, Lang Donliang, Wang Yibing, or Yang Weihan explore memory, urban landscape, digital creation, and history in their oeuvre.

A blast from the past, Gao Yuan’s Coli3e0m Rock traces the influence of rock music in the 1990s in Hong Kong. Expect incredible looks in black and white, swag, and sweat. Also in black and white, but way darker in its approach, we find Masahisa Fukase’s Private Scenes, a solo show as part of the Greetings from Asia Section. The exhibit traces the Japanese photographer’s forty-year career, which influenced artists worldwide — and still does today.

There is so much more to explore, from parallel exhibitions to grants and prizes. So if you want to get into details, don’t hesitate and check out the Jimei x Arles website.