One of the world’s most famous photo festivals, in the French town of Arles, returned this week with a timely ode to diversity at a time when France is increasingly leaning towards the far right.
The Rencontres festival, which runs until September 29, takes place in 27 venues in the old cobbled streets of this former Roman town in Provence and has been held since 1970.
This year’s theme is ‘Below the Surface’, highlighting diversity without the usual caricatures surrounding minorities.
The main exhibition is a world premiere: a retrospective of the American portrait artist Mary Ellen Mark (1940-2015), who worked for magazines such as Life and Rolling Stone.
One of her famous photographs shows an Icelandic child resting on a horse’s neck, distracting attention from the boy’s disability.
“Mark devoted a great deal of time and attention to her subjects, in some cases photographing them over and over again over many years, developing close relationships with many of them,” said co-curator Sophia Greiff.
An example is Tiny, who Mark followed from her years on the streets, where she started using drugs, to the tender moments with her children.
“What I try to do is make pictures that are universally understood… that cross cultural boundaries,” Mark once said.
Elsewhere at the festival, Spanish photographer Cristina de Middel presents documentary and dreamy work about migrants traveling from Mexico to the US.
She ignores the usual clichés surrounding migration and presents the crossing as a heroic epic about courageous men and women on their way to a new life.
By combining documentary footage with staged and poetic photographs, “each person regains their personality and a level of humanity is restored to the way they are depicted,” said festival director Christoph Wiesner.
He said the message is particularly important given the rise of the far right in France, which is currently leading in parliamentary elections.
“The situation is complex, so we can’t just give up,” Wiesner said, referring to the festival’s regular work on feminism and anti-racism, including presentations at local schools.
Other exhibitions this year include “I’m So Happy You’re Here,” featuring work by 20 Japanese female photographers.
Another photograph invites visitors to glimpse the “baroque of everyday life” in the Indian state of Punjab, with photos of bizarre roof sculptures brought back by locals after working abroad, including footballs, tanks, planes and lions.
French artist Sophie Calle presents her images alongside responses from blind people about their understanding of visual beauty.
“Green is beautiful because every time I find something beautiful, I hear that it is green,” is written next to a photo of living grass.
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