Les Rencontres de la Photographie, Arles
Les Rencontres de la photographie, Arles is the longest running and most famous photography exposition in the world. It’s been happening in the amazingly wonderful Ville of Arles, down in the South of France. It extends from the start of July through September, giving anyone wanting to go more than enough time to get there.
That said, I find it funny that I had never heard of it until 2020 and that was only because I was going to be in the area with my family (scouting for our move) and I wanted to know what was going on in the area at that time. I’ve been a professional photographer for 28 years (26 at that point). I obviously lived in a cave. A large cave mind you but a cave nonetheless. I bring this up in case you have been in a similar cave up until now.
As of last year, my youngest daughter and I have made it an annual daddy/daughter trip. We attend during the first week, when everyone is in town. The parties are going (which I have yet to attend but may in the future), the buyers are in town, the camera companies are showing off and lending out their gear and every other storefront becomes a popup gallerie, supplementing the 23 locations (showing approximately 40 exhibitions).
There's a bustle about town. If you think you see a photographer you admire, it may very well be them. It’s a great place to meet people that share your passion from all over the world. You’ll see work from famous artists you've admired forever and new work by up and coming photographers that you have never heard of but will now never forget. It covers a wide range of genres so you are bound to love some, like some and not vibe with the rest. All of that in an historic, beautiful town in the south of France where Van Gough painted many of his most famous paintings and some fine examples of functional Roman architecture thrown in to round it out.
This year I will say my favorites (I still haven’t seen everything so this could change) were the exhibits by/of Saul Leiter, Diane Arbus, Gregory Crewdson and the show by L’agence MYOP (in a vacant hotel including the pool). The Leiter show was great. It was a career retrospective in that it showed color, black and white, personal work, assignment work and his paintings. Very much worth checking out. The Arbus exhibit was nearly overwhelming. It had approximately 450 images that were hung in a way as to almost seem like they were on a web. If you don’t view it systematically then you are likely to miss some. Famous and rarely seen images were everywhere. It’s always a treat to see originals of work you have forever seen in various publications and simultaneously see wonderful images that are old and yet brand new to you.
As for the Crewdson show, WOW! If you are a fan then you will be blown away. If you aren’t one then you will be at the end. His work is always interesting to view but to see it at scale and in such a comprehensive collection is seriously impressive. To see the various pieces in the collections they were shot as a part of gives you an even greater appreciation for the work as a whole. He even has a collection of BnW images that are both similar and a departure from his traditional oeuvre.
Lastly, the exhibition by l’agence MYOP is a treat for both its content as well as its use of space. The images are the work of documentarians and photojournalists mainly and they cover difficult and important topics and should/need to be viewed. In addition to the exhibits, I attended a panel talk there featuring Raymond Depardon speaking about the golden age of documentary photography. Of course it was all in french so I probably understood about 10 percent of it but I enjoyed it nonetheless. I should be better next year.
To conclude… Go. See it. You won’t regret it when you do.
If you time it right you can go to both Arles and Perpignan for the best exhibition of documentary photography and Photojournalism in the world at Visa Pour L’image 23.
Click here for a short video of Les Rencontres de la photographie, Arles 2022 to get you more excited!