India at Les Rencontres d’Arles, international photography fest

New Delhi, 4 July 2022. The celebrated international photography festival, Les Rencontres d’Arles, back after weathering the pandemic, will be held from 4th July – 25th September in the southern French town of Arles. The 2022 edition titled Visible or Invisible, a Summer Revealed includes 40 varied exhibitions, in addition to those displayed in the Grand Arles Express, which showcases works by unknown or forgotten artists as well as emerging talents.

For this year’s edition, India and its art will be in the spotlight. Many Indian artists, curators, foundations and cultural institutions will represent India and its cultural and artistic diversity in Arles while also meeting French partners and professionals to initiate cross-cultural learning experiences and Indo-French collaborations.

Les Rencontres d’Arles, pegged as the mecca of the finest of photographic and contemporary creative talents, will play host to The Serendipity Arts Foundation, an Indian arts and cultural development trust, which aims to promote new creative strategies, artistic interventions and cultural partnerships. Serendipity Arts and Les Rencontres d’Arles jointly launched a grant for photography, video making, and new media in South Asia, an initiative supported by the French Institute in India in 2020.
Amongst the many applicants and emerging artists, Sathish Kumar was selected by a panel of eminent jury members for Town Boy. The project will now be exhibited at Les Rencontres d’Arles, 2022 edition. He will be accompanied by Jaisingh Nageswaran and Adira Thekkuveettil, finalists of the same grant.
Serendipity Arts Foundation will also be represented by one of its curators, Mr Ravi Agrawal. He is the creative mind behind the exhibition Imagined Documents (organised as part of the Serendipity Arts Festival) that displays contemporary works of 10 artists from the Indian subcontinent and beyond: Bani Abidi, Azadeh Akhlaghi, Dia Mehhta Bhupal, Sharbendu De, Sukanya Ghosh, Krishan Khanna, Yamini Nayar, Prajakta Potnis, Vivan Sundaram and Munem Wasif.

Additionally, the Chennai Photo Biennale Foundation, an Indian organisation celebrating and promoting photography as an art form and practice through various initiatives like their very own photography festival in the city of Chennai, will be represented by its founders, Shuchi Kapoor and Varun Gupta. On this occasion, the Chennai Photo Biennale Foundation will showcase a series of artworks during the festival’s Night of the Year event.

To add to the list, two Indian documentary photographers, Anshika Varma and Adil Hasan, have been invited by Les Rencontres d’Arles to present Offset Projects as part of the Arles Books Fair. Founded in 2018, Offset Projects is a travelling pitara of photography, books and bookmaking which aims to explore various engagements and sociological impact of perceiving the world through creative expressions in visual language. During this event dedicated to the richness and variety of publishing practices, a facet essential to the creation and dissemination of photography, they will present photo books from their Offset library Pitara as well as their own publication, Guftgu.

Further, Editions JOJO, publishing alias of visual artist and photographer Kaamna Patel dedicated to limited edition, handmade photobooks and artist books, has been selected as one of the publishers and booksellers featured in Arles at the Arles Books Fair, organised by France Photobook.

The curator and director of publications at the Alkazi Foundation for the Arts, Rahaab Allana, will also partake in Les Rencontres d’Arles to meet with other professionals from the field. Rahaab Allana regularly collaborates with French cultural institutions. He recently curated Convergence - a photography exhibition organised by the French Institute in India as part of the 4th edition of Bonjour India festival in honour of India’s 75 years of Independence.

The Indian focus in Arles is also reflected by the presence and participation of several Indian artists during the opening night of the festival. On this occasion, Barcelona based DJ, reporter and rare record collector Victor Kiswell will present 70s-90s’ disco and funk music from the Indian subcontinent. This will be followed by a live mridangam performance by Tamil artists OHM Duo. Finally, DJ Loya will present a set inspired by the sounds of the Indian Ocean.

The wide scope of the Indian presence at Les Rencontres d’Arles is an opportunity to foster links between the actors of the Indian cultural scene and the French festival, and thus to establish a long-term and fruitful collaboration for future editions. This is not only an opportunity to showcase and promote India’s rich culture and history, but also to encourage knowledge and facilitate mutual learning experiences.