To celebrate the opening of Rinko Kawauchi’s At the edge of the everyday world, we have invited a collection of artists to create new soundtracks to accompany her film works. These will be performed and broadcast as a special one-off event on Friday 18th October (tickets via Headfirst).
Headlining the evening will be longtime festival favourites Time is Away. Comprised of Jack Rollo and Elaine Tierney, the duo combine spoken word, field recordings and music to create sonic tapestries that take listeners on a journey – from the voice as an instrument, to a letter from home, to the colour and sound of pomegranates. We have long been fans of their monthly NTS radio show, as well as Jack’s Early Bird Show.
In preparation, we asked Time is Away for a list of records that are currently inspiring them. As you might expect, not all are easy to track down (unless you were buying CDs in Japan in the mid 90s?). However, we’ve provided bandcamp links wherever possible:
Eddie Marcon – Yahho no Potori – Listen here (this one is our favourite and has also been on repeat in the Bristol Photo Festival office in recent months)
Image from the exhibition ‘Now Keep Quite Still’ by Herbert Shergold (curated by Hedy van Erp).
Hedy van Erp is a Dutch photo historian, author and curator of photography and video art. Here she speaks about working in a Mexican restaurant in York, her love of Lee Miller and the importance of the sea.
The Festival Q+A
What did you want to be when you were growing up? An archaeologist, a detective, or a writer. I actually became all three, if you put the word ‘photo’ in front of them.
Can you remember the first photograph that inspired you to be an artist? That would have to be an artist photo. It would be cool to now say ‘of David Bowie’, but it’s more likely Mud 🙂 … although a neighbour gave me Bowie’s live album ‘Stage’ in 1978 and I remember the album design impressed me, as it was so different from the records sleeves I knew as a 12 year-old. I also remember a picture in NME of the Cure in leather jackets, artistically positioned, so it was likely taken by Anton Corbijn around 1981. It’s a hand-coloured black-and-white photo taken outside, near large puddles of water reflecting the light from the sky.
What is the worst job you have ever done? Working as a waitress in a Mexican restaurant in York when I was a student. The people and the food were great, but the staff had to wear sombreros, which seriously undermined my idea of cool. And the place was haunted (no joke)
Who do you admire and why? Although nobody’s perfect, it’s hard to name someone who is still alive, as people can still turn into Trump-loving idiots. So I’d say Lee Miller, for her courage and work. I’ve been a long-term admirer, I even named my eldest daughter after her. Special mention goes to Joe Strummer, whom I wanted to marry when I was 14.
Where do you feel at home? Near the sea. I was born in The Hague, close to the sea. I remember the colours of the late sixties and early seventies, the orange parasols on the beach. As an adult I always lived in places where the North Sea was nearby; a life far from the coast is unthinkable. Now, I live closer to the sea than ever. Every day, I walk along the beach or climb the high dunes that protect my village — dunes that, coincidentally or not, are the highest in the Netherlands. I won’t go home until I’ve seen the sea.
Alternatively, The Milky Way in Amsterdam. I worked there as a night manager during my student years. I saw great bands there, and still do, I met the father of my children, and also my current husband. So, delete your dating apps and head to the Milky Way.
What is your greatest fear? The sea! This may seem paradoxical given my previous answer, but the very idea of a dark deep sea and raging waves terrifies me. I suppose this has to do with my earliest memory: my world suddenly went dark. My mother later told me that at that moment, she had just managed to grab me by one of my hands and pull me back up from the water. It could have ended differently — my mother can’t swim. My fear and awe of deep waters never went away. I recently found out this fear has a name: thalassofobia.
What is your most treasured possession? The diary my dad kept in 1955, which I found after his death. It recounts his experience of seeing my mother for the first time. In the two weeks that followed, he describes how he tried to meet her, how he wooed her, and how he kissed her for the first time—how he fell in love with her. My mum later provided her photos to illustrate this story, which, to me, is obviously the Mother of all Love Stories.
What advice would you give to your younger self? Go to art school instead of university
If you could study any subject, what would it be? I would love to learn Japanese, so I could feel a little less like an elephant in a china shop next time I’m in Japan.
What currently inspires you?
BOOK – State of Emergency, Max Pinckers et al (2024) This amazing project and photobook revisits the Mau Mau uprising in Kenya by documenting stories from surviving veterans, blending contemporary photographs with archival material to provide a more nuanced view of history. Pinckers engages the veterans in staged reenactments of key moments from their struggle, allowing them to relive and narrate their own experiences, which were previously omitted or marginalized by colonial records. Through these visual and narrative layers, the book challenges colonial histories, presenting the Mau Mau as central figures in their nation’s fight for independence and making a compelling case for reparations and recognition.
FILM I’m still waiting to see a film that impresses me more than the one I’ve seen most often: Apocalypse Now, Coppola’s magnum opus in which he aimed to give his audience an experience that makes them feel the horror, madness and moral dilemmas of the Vietnam War in their cinema seats. I’ve recently seen it for the umpteenth time and not a single bit feels dated to me. It makes you question the concept of ‘civilization’.
PHOTOZINE Although I’m a contributor myself and do not mean to self-promote here, it is incredibly inspiring to work with the photographers and artists forming the editorial team of a new photozine called Fotolini. It is created by the designer and co-founder of Dog Food, the underground zine that will stop at its peak this year, now that it will be honoured at the MoMA. Fotolini presents vintage photography with contemporary relevance and a dose of irony. It’s for people who love paper magazines and uncommon vintage photography, sometimes with an unexpected modern counterpart. The issue features a remarkable lonely-hearts section. The theme is Love, much needed in the world right now.
TV SHOW This summer, I’ve succumbed for the first time to a Dutch reality show called B&B Vol Liefde (in English: B&B Full of Love) which combines five reality show formats (that I’ve always avoided). It lays bare the best and the sad in mankind. The main thing is: everyone in Holland watches it, so people now talk about it to any random stranger in any random queue. It connects people in a way that even the national football team can’t.
MUSIC As the theme of the first Fotolini issue is Love, I’ve been listening to some unusual love songs lately. Artist Esther Zitman compiled a Fotolini Spotify playlist, consisting of songs that have the same titles as the articles. I very much enjoy her combination of hard-to-avoid hits, cheesy love songs and obscure finds.
Hedy van Erp is a Dutch photo historian, author and curator of photography and video art. She develops exhibitions and concepts for museums, galleries and photo festivals. She has curated exhibitions for, among others, the Nederlands Fotomuseum, Rotterdam; Photo Museum The Hague, the English National Media Museum; the Science Museum, London; the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs; Museum Kranenburgh, the National Maritime Museum and the Hermitage in Amsterdam. Supported by the Mondriaan Fund, Van Erp researched Dutch photo archives in private collections in 2023.
Akosua Viktoria Adu-Sanyah is an artist based in Zurich, Switzerland. Her work centres upon the colour darkroom, where she uses the materials of photography – paper, light and time – to investigate familial bonds, personal loss, identity and structures of institutional power. Here Akosua speaks about Van Gogh, dance, folding clothes and the writings of Zora Neale Hurston.
The Festival Q+A
What did you want to be when you were growing up? An artist, an inventor, a horse trainer.
Can you remember the first photograph that inspired you to be an artist? I was never particularly into photography. Work that truly moved me always came from painting. When I was 7, it came through Vincent Van Gogh and Pablo Picasso; my grandmother had so many books about him and I was drawn to the black-and-white photographs taken in his studio. I wanted to live like this. A few years later, I discovered Amedeo Modigliani and to this day he remains one of the most important artists to me.
What is the worst job you have ever done? I always needed money and enjoyed working so I rarely dreaded it. I guess the only really terrible one was in retail, refolding perfectly folded clothes so it looked as if I was busy doing things. I left after a month and went back to waiting tables for less than half of the money because it was more engaging. I suffer under inefficient, useless tasks.
Who do you admire and why? I admire so many people. But the first that came to mind (after my father) is my dance teacher. He’s Cuban and made it to Switzerland through dance, learned several different languages in which he teaches. He has endless energy and sees every single detail, knows exactly when to point out which mistake, for whom to repeat a sequence or movement, switches between male and female roles so effortlessly, has incredible musicality, I miss him.
Where do you feel at home? Among people I feel truly comfortable being myself with, in the colour darkroom, on horseback, on my bike riding through Zürich, on long road trips with my dog Mingus.
What is your greatest fear? Sadness.
What is your most treasured possession? I love books, things, objects, colors, instruments, but have trouble coming up with an answer. It feels like I should say “my negatives” but I don’t feel that way. My dance shoes maybe? Or probably actually my negatives.
What do you think people often overlook or misunderstand in relation to your work? I feel mostly understood by the people I engage and work with. Maybe a technical thing comes to mind: most people in art, including many experts in photography, have no or very little understanding of what a practice in the color darkroom, especially working with large-scale formats, really entails.
What advice would you give to your younger self? Don’t make yourself small so that others feel comfortable, be confident in your strength and not ashamed of it, and if others believe that you have what it takes, believe it too. Don’t be so scared of being hopeful.
If you could study any subject, what would it be? A few selects of a long list: Japanese, Twi, Arabic. Contemporary dance, cello, tango. And I would study and finish mathematics. I started it and dropped out before arts, a chip on my shoulder.
What currently inspires you?
Books:
The Road Less Traveled by Scott Peck
Barracoon – The Story of The Last Slave by Zora Neale Hurston
Touching The Rock by John Hull.
Music and dance: Rumba Cubana, Yambu, Guaguanco, Son Cubano, timba. Ryuichi Sakamoto and Philip Glass.
Akosua Viktoria Adu-Sanyah is a German-Ghanaian artist and photographer based in Zürich, Switzerland. Her work centres upon the colour darkroom, where she uses the materials of photography – paper, light and time – to investigate familial bonds, personal loss, identity and structures of institutional power. The work created emphasises the process of its making; particularly the journey from initial ideas and research research to the creation of a photographic object that is imbued with feeling and emotion.
She has held exhibitions across Europe, including: Centre Photographie Genéve (CH), Photoforum Pasquart (CH), Saarland Museum (DE) & Foam Museum (NL). Her work is held in the permanent collections of both the city and canton of Zurich, the Swiss Photography Foundation (Fotostiftung Schweiz), Fotomuseum Winterthur and the city of Saarbrücken. In 2024, she was the recipient of the Swiss Art Award. She is the author of one monograph, Rough Tide (edition fink, 2024).
Akosua is currently developing a new body of work in response to the histories of Bristol’s Georgian House Museum, to be exhibited throughout the festival. Attend her exhibition or buy a ticket to our artist symposium to find out more.
Diane Smyth is a writer, editor and educator, best known for her work at The British Journal of Photography. Here Diane speaks about early copies of The Face magazine, the joys of cleaning a local leisure centre and the ongoing influence of Borges’ short stories.
The Festival Q+A
What did you want to be when you were growing up? A writer
Can you remember the first photograph that inspired you? It’s not a particular photograph, but when I was 15 I covered all the walls of my bedroom with photographs ripped out of The Face magazine. An immersive experience!
What is the worst job you have ever done? Cleaning the local leisure centre, though it wasn’t all bad. The woman I worked with was 60 and amazingly fit – cleaning a leisure centre is even better exercise than using it.
Who do you admire and why? Yesterday I interviewed a young Ukrainian artist called Sofiia Vinnichenko, who has a super interesting outlook on searching for meaning.
Where do you feel at home? Home is where the heart is.
What is your greatest fear? Something bad happening to my son.
What is your most treasured possession? I prefer not to treasure possessions, and books/art/music/people aren’t exactly possessions…
What do you think people often overlook or misunderstand in relation to your work? Interesting question, because in my writing and journalism I often prefer to minimise myself. It’s not about me? Maybe there’s a more positive way to frame ‘overlooked’?
What advice would you give to your younger self? You’re doing the right thing.
If you could study any subject, what would it be? A PhD on the relationship between capitalism and the medium of photography. If anyone would like to fund this, or has tips on funding it, let me know…
What currently inspires you?
Walter Benjamin’s Arcades Project
Borges’ short stories
Faiza Shaheen’s Know Your Place
My son
Crazy P’s Cruel Mistress (currently on repeat)
Diane Smyth is editor of the British Journal of Photography and the Photoworks Annual, and teaches history and theory of photography to BA and MA students at the London College of Communication. Her writing has appeared in publications such as The Guardian, The FT Weekend Magazine, The Art Newspaper, and Apollo, as well as in photobooks and catalogues. Diane is on Instagram at @dismy
On Friday 18th October, Diane will be in conversation with artists Bandia Ribeira and Ritual Inhabitual, as part of The World a Wave Festival Symposium.
Photography can act as a time machine, allowing one to return to ephemeral moments that have been held still within the image. For this to occur, the photographic surface must be marked by light and time, forces that similarly shape the human body. Marked by Light draws together four artists that use photography as a tool for returning to lost pasts, while recording the unfolding of life around them, in all of its precious and fleeting forms.
Agnieszka Sosnowska photographs daily life in her adoptive home of Iceland, where she works as a teacher at a small countryside school. Her work draws heavily on the experience of living on a remote farm – Kleppjárnsstaðir in the east of Iceland – a place constantly entangled with more-than-human forces. She recently published the monograph För (Trespasser Books), drawing together over 20 years of work.
“It was late last summer when we visited for the first and last time together, when the meadows were being cut for hay.” From this opening line, Kiowa Casey’s San Amado pays homage to her mother who passed away in May 2023, following chronic struggles with alcoholism. It is a testament to the distance that lies between individuals – in this case mother and daughter – that is constantly navigated and sometimes overcome by love and acceptance.
Giulia Vanelli’s The Season is a journey through memories of childhood and youth woven amidst the summer seasons of a small seaside village. It is an ode to the lengthened days and slow cycles that accompany rural summer months, in ways that can bring both comfort and claustrophobia in equal measure. The Season was recently published by Witty Books (2024).
In Yana Wernicke’s Companions one witnesses the bond cultivated over time between Rosina and Julie, and the animals they rescue. Situated in a small town outside Frankfurt, the title has its origins in the German word ‘Weggefährten, which tranlates literally as ‘those who walk the path together. Companions was recently published by Loose Joints (2023).
Events
24th October (6-8pm) – Kiowa Casey In Conversation with Clare Hewitt
The opening week is packed with preview nights, artist talks and one-time-only music collaborations. All are welcome and most events are free.
Use our suggested routes and the Festival Map to navigate the festival easily. Print versions of the map are available at participating venues.
The majority of exhibitions will open on Wednesday 16th October. However some are staggered, opening later in the week. These include: Martin Parr Foundation, Royal Photographic Society, Arnolfini, Bristol Museum & Art Gallery and The Georgian House Museum. Check each venue to avoid disappointment.
Wednesday 16th October
7pm – 9pm Old Market Opening Night: Amak Mahmoodian and Ariella Aïsha Azoulay
Venues: IC Visual Lab – 6 West Street, Bristol, BS2 0BH 17 Midland Road – Bristol, BS2 0JT
Free entry, donations welcome.
Join us to celebrate the opening of two exhibitions: One Hundred and Twenty Minutes by Amak Mahmoodian (17 Midland Road), which examines the experience of dreaming for those living in exile. And Unshowable Photographs by Ariella Azoulay (IC Visual Lab), which explores how official archives have shaped history by limiting visibility of the Palestinian nakba (1947-1950).
The two exhibition venues are situated a one-minute walk apart and we encourage you to attend both. Following the openings, please join us for an afterparty at Old Market Assembly (9pm-11pm).
9pm – 11pm Old Market Opening Night: Music afterparty with Noods Radio and Radio Alhara
Venue: Old Market Assembly (25 West St, Bristol BS2 0DF). Free entry, donations welcome.
After the exhibition openings, join us at Old Market Assembly for a musical line-up organised in collaboration with Noods Radio (Bristol) and Radio Alhara (Bethlehem), featuring DJ sets by i-sha and Nahda.
i-sha is a Bristol-based DJ, resident at Noods Radio and one of the organisers behind the party and imprint Accidental Meetings. In recent years she has honed a unique style that combines brooding dub soundscapes with moments of frenetic energy.
Nahda is a Bristol-based DJ and resident at Noods Radio who draws together sounds from across the MENA region.
Thursday 17th October
Join us to celebrate the opening of exhibitions in the South East of the city. These will include:
5pm – 7pm BricksSt. Anne’s House Opening Night: Kirsty Mackay and Bandia Ribeira
Venue: Bricks St. Anne’s House – St Anne’s Rd, Brislington, Bristol, BS4 4AB
There will be two exhibitions on display at Bricks St. Anne’s House. Firstly, The Magic Money Tree by Kirsty Mackay, a project that traverses the UK documenting the impact of the cost-of-living crisis and the realities of poverty in the world’s sixth largest economy. Secondly, Not a Home Without Fire by Bandia Ribeira, which documents the lives of agricultural workers in the ‘Sea of Plastic’, a vast network of greenhouses in Almeria, Spain, that produce out-of-season vegetables to be exported across Northern Europe.
6.30pm – 8.30pm Paintworks Opening Night: Trent Parke and Realms of Memory
Venues: Martin Parr Foundation, Paintworks, Bristol, BS4 3AR Royal Photographic Society, Paintworks, Bristol, BS4 3AR
Join us for two exhibition openings. Firstly, Monument by Trent Parke (Martin Parr Foundation) – an elegy to time, to the late light of Sydney streets, the movement of people and the circling of moths as night falls. And secondly, Realms of Memory by Billy H.C. Kwok, Jay Lau & Lau Wai (Royal Photographic Society), which examines the stories of Hong Kong that are often found in photographic archives, while uncovering the gaps that exist.
Thursday Shuttle Bus Information
We will be running a free bus service from Bricks St. Anne’s House to Paintworks, enabling you to attend both openings. Buses will leave Bricks St. Anne’s House at 6.45pm & 7.15pm. Spaces for the bus can be booked here.
The festival symposium will bring together many of the artists exhibiting across the festival for a day of lively discussion. Each artist will appear in-conversation with an invited guest, unpacking the ideas behind their exhibition. The symposium is a unique opportunity to hear leading voices from across the photographic world, all together in the same room for the first time. Throughout the day there will be opportunities for audience questions and informal conversation.
5.30pm – 7.30pm St. Paul’s Crypt Opening Night: Sarker Protick
Venue: The Crypt, St. Paul’s Church, 2 Southville Rd, Bristol BS3 1AS Free entry, donations welcome.
Join us to celebrate the opening of Spaces of Separation by Sarker Protick – a long term study of the colonial architectural remains found across Bangladesh and West Bengal.
The two exhibition venues are situated a ten-minute walk apart and we encourage you to attend both. While you can visit the exhibitions in any order, we encourage you to begin at St Paul’s Crypt, before finishing at Arnolfini where events will continue into the evening.
6pm – 8pm Arnolfini Gallery Opening Night: Rinko Kawauchi
Join us to celebrate the opening of At the edge of the everyday world by Rinko Kawauchi (Arnolfini), a meditation of the fragility of our life on this planet we collectively call home.
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The two exhibition venues are situated a ten-minute walk apart and we encourage you to attend both. While you can visit the exhibitions in any order, we encourage you to begin at St Paul’s Crypt, before finishing at Arnolfini where events will continue into the evening..
8pm – 11pm Rinko Kawauchi Live Soundtrack, featuring Time is Away, Tara Clerkin Trio & Memotone
Following the opening of Rinko Kawauchi’s At the edge of the everyday world, please join us in Arnolfini’s auditorium where a selected group of musicians and sound artists will be performing live responses to her moving image works.
Venues: Paintworks Event Space. The Airstream Main Courtyards, Paintworks, Bristol BS4 3EH Martin Parr Foundation, Paintworks, Bristol, BS4 3AR Royal Photographic Society, Paintworks, Bristol, BS4 3AR
BOP – Books on Photography – is the annual photobook festival from Martin Parr Foundation and The Royal Photographic Society, this year in collaboration with Bristol Photo Festival. The festival brings together a wide-ranging group of photobook publishers, artist talks, exhibitions, book signings, events, street food, coffee and beer.
Join us to celebrate the opening of two exhibitions: Now Keep Quite Still by Herbert Shergold (The Laundrette, curated by Hedy van Erp). Throughout the 1950s and 1960s, Shergold operated a commercial photography studio in Bristol, often portraying local residents as Hollywood stars.
Porcelain Souls & Keepers of the Ocean by Inuuteq Storch, which presents a living, breathing portrait of his community and family in Greenland.
The two exhibition venues are situated a twenty minute walk apart from one another (4 minutes by bike, 12 minutes by bus). We encourage you to attend both openings and will be leading a walking group between the venues (leaving The Laundrette at 17.45pm).
Sunday 20 October
10am – 5pm BOP Bookfair
Venues: Paintworks Event Space. The Airstream Main Courtyards, Paintworks, Bristol BS4 3EH Martin Parr Foundation, Paintworks, Bristol, BS4 3AR Royal Photographic Society, Paintworks, Bristol, BS4 3AR
BOP – Books on Photography – is the annual photobook festival from Martin Parr Foundation and The Royal Photographic Society, this year in collaboration with Bristol Photo Festival. The festival brings together a wide-ranging group of photobook publishers, artist talks, exhibitions, book signings, events, street food, coffee and beer.
Join us to celebrate the opening of two exhibitions: Oro Verde by Ritual Inhabitual, which examines the relationship between drug cartels and avocado farming in rural Mexico; alongside the story of a local Purépechan community who rose up to reclaim their community from the cartels. And Across the Sea is a Shore by Andrew Jackson; a reflection on the intergenerational experience of Britain’s Caribbean diaspora. The opening will also include breakfast and coffee for all who attend.
1pm – 2.30pm Bristol Museum Opening Afternoon: Hashem Shakeri
Venue: Bristol Museum and Art Gallery, Bristol Museum & Art Gallery, Queens Rd, Clifton, Bristol BS8 1RL
Join us to celebrate the opening of Staring into the Abyss by Hashem Shakeri (Bristol Museum & Art Gallery), which documents daily life in Afghanistan following the Taliban’s return to power. The opening will include a tour led by the festival team.
2.30pm – 4pm TheGeorgian House Museum Opening Afternoon: Akosua Viktoria Adu-Sanyah
Venue: The Georgian House Museum, 7 Great George St, Bristol BS1 5RR Free entry, donations welcome.
After the museum, please walk over to Georgian House Museum for a tour of The House is a Body by Akosua Viktoria Adu-Sanyah, a newly commissioned body of work that responds to the histories of the house.
The two venues are a 5 minute walk apart. We encourage you to attend both openings.
The festival symposium will bring together many of the artists exhibiting across the festival for a day of lively discussion. Each artist will appear in-conversation with an invited guest, unpacking the ideas behind their exhibition. The symposium is a unique opportunity to hear leading voices from across the photographic world, all together in the same room for the first time. Throughout the day there will be opportunities for audience questions and informal conversation.
Line-up
10 – 10.30 – Introduction to Bristol Photo Festival
10.30 – 11.15 – Rinko Kawauchi with Alejandro Acín (BPF Festival Director)
11.30 – 12.20 – Bandia Ribeira & Ritual Inhabitual in conversation with Diane Smyth (British Journal of Photography)
12.20 – 13.00 – Hedy van Erp (Independent Curator) on Herbert Shergold’s Photographic Studio
14.00 – 14.45 – Amak Mahmoodian in conversation with Negar Behzadi (University of Bristol)
14.45 – 15.30 – Billy H.C Kwok, Jay Lau and Lau Wai in conversation Chloe Chow and Frank Lam (WMA Hong Kong)
15.45 – 16.30 – Akosua Viktoria Adu-Sanyah in conversation with Shawn Sobers (University of the West of England)
16.30 – 17.15 – Sarker Protick in conversation with Dalia Al-Dujaili (British Journal of Photography)
The festival symposium has been developed in collaboration with WEX Photo & Video, The British Journal of Photography and the University of the West of England.
Tickets
Tickets are £25. Concessions are available as follows:
Rinko Kawauchi was born in 1972 in Shiga Prefecture, Japan. In 2001, she simultaneously published three books – Utatane, Hanabi and Hanako – leading to critical acclaim. She has subsequently published multiple books, including: Aila (2005), Illuminance (2011), Ametsuchi (2013) and M/E On this sphere Endlessly interlinking (2022).
Alejandro Acin is an artist, designer and educator based between the UK and Spain. He is the founder-director of independent arts organisation IC Visual Lab and Director of Bristol Photo Festival.
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Bandia Ribeira is an artist and photographer based in Spain. She is best known for her long-term, research-led approach, with a particular focus on the topic of agricultural labour.
Tito Gonzalez Garcia co-founded the shared artistic practice Ritual Inhabitual in 2013, alongside Florencia Grisanti. Together they develop long-term projects that explore the role of myth within contemporary political struggle, particularly in relation to land, ecology and indigenous rights across Latin America.
Diane Smyth is the editor of the British Journal of Photography. She also edits the Photoworks Annual, and has written for The Guardian, FT Weekend Magazine, Aperture, FOAM, and Apollo, plus catalogues and monographs.
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Hedy van Erp is a leading Dutch photo historian, author and curator of photography. She has curated exhibitions for institutions including: the Nederlands Fotomuseum (Rotterdam), Fotomuseum (Den Haag), the Science Museum (London), the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Amsterdam), Museum Kranenburgh (Amsterdam), the National Maritime Museum (Amsterdam) and the Hermitage (Amsterdam).
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Amak Mahmoodian works with photography, text, video, drawing and archives, to explore the representation of gender, identity and displacement, while weaving connections between the personal and the political. She has published two books: Shenasnameh (2016) and Zanjir (2019).
Dr Negar Elodie Behzadi is a feminist Political Geographer whose long-term research focuses on issues of resource extraction, work, migration, gender and religion, in both Europe and Central Asia. Her work often involves documentary film, visual and embodied approaches. She is currently a Lecturer in the School of Geographical Sciences, University of Bristol.
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Sarker Protick works with photography, video and sound to create long-term surveys of Bangladesh. He is drawn to themes such as time passing, the alteration of land and borders, as well as traces of both personal and political histories.
Dalia Al-Dujaili is an Iraqi-British freelance journalist, with a particular focus on artistic projects tied to the SWANA region. She is currently Online Editor of The British Journal of Photography.
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Akosua Viktoria Adu-Sanyah is a German-Ghanaian artist and photographer based in Zürich, Switzerland. Her work centres upon the colour darkroom, where she uses the materials of photography – paper, light and time – to investigate familial bonds, personal loss, identity and structures of institutional power.
Dr Shawn Naphtali Sobers is a Visual Anthropologist working in writing, photography and filmmaking, exploring narratives of belonging. His research interests include themes of hidden histories, unheard stories, everyday life and material culture. He has written about topics including: community media, creative education, the trans-Atlantic slave trade, disability & walking, religion, Rastafari, Ethiopian and Caribbean cultures, and photography & generative AI.
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Billy H.C. Kwok began his career in journalism focussing on geopolitical stories across China and the surrounding region, including Hong Kong and Tawain. His work has been published by The New York Times, Time Magazine and The Washington Post. In 2022 he was awarded the Abigail Cohen Fellowship from the Magnum Foundation.
Jay Lau is an artist working between photography and printmaking. His work focuses on the representation of images and cultural meanings of materiality. He graduated with an MA from the Chinese University of Hong Kong, going on to numerous accolades including the Cheung’s Fine Arts Award and the WMA Graduate Award.
Lau Wai is an artist from Hong Kong, currently based in New York. Within their work they utilise personal and historic archive, cinematic imagery, popular culture, and emerging technologies to investigate how history, fiction and personal memory collide in the process of identity formation.
Chloe Chow is a Hong Kong-based curator, currently serving as the Head of Exhibitions and Programmes at WMA. Prior to joining WMA she was Associate Curator for Hong Kong Visual Culture at M+.
Frank Lam is a Hong Kong-based curator and exhibition designer, currently serving as Senior Project Officer at WMA.
Following the opening of Rinko Kawauchi’s At the edge of the everyday world, please join us in Arnolfini’s auditorium where a selected group of musicians and sound artists will be performing live responses to her moving image works. These include:
Time is Away
Time is Away (Jack Rollo and Elaine Tierney) combine spoken word, field recordings and music – both found and composed – to create sonic tapestries that map the relationships between memory, time, place and power. Their work takes the form of radio broadcasts, mixtapes or live performances, each taking the listener on a journey; from the voice as an instrument, to a letter from home, to the colour and sound of pomegranates. They have a monthly NTS radio show and have recently completed the La Becque artist residency (Vevey, Switzerland). For this event, Time is Away will be creating an accompaniment to Rinko Kawauchi’s Illuminance.
Tara Clerkin Trio & Memotone (live improvisation)
Looping the sounds of clarinet, voice, keys and percussion Tara Clerkin Trio create a world of sound that bridges gaps between acid jazz, trip hop, dub and minimalism. Their self-titled LP (2020) was something of a sleeper hit (no.35 in The Wire’s top 100 albums of the year) and their subsequent releases have seen them develop a cult following.
They will be joined on the night for a rare collaboration with composer and musician Memotone (Will Yates), who works between minimal, ambient and classical music. Recent years have seen Memotone lean towards improvisation, drawing upon jazz, drone and meditative music. Will has released multiple records, including 2023’s How Was Your Life? (Patience/Impatience records), while collaborating with artists including Dmitry Evgrafov, Batu, Phealeh and Mister Water Wet.
For this event, Tara Clerkin Trio & Memotone will be creating an accompaniment to Rinko Kawauchi’s Ametsuchi.
Infinite Spirit Music
Opening proceedings will be Infinite Spirit Music (Lionel Lamadon), a selector known for transgressing the boundaries between experimental music, field recordings, sound poetry, industrial echoes and meditative dance. Lamadon is a resident of Noods Radio – check out his monthly show to find out more.
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This event has been devised in collaboration with Inis:Eto.
Tickets
Tickets are £12. Concessions are available as follows:
Bristol Photo Festival Accompanying Film Programme. Sundays at 2pm throughout October. Location: Watershed. Tickets: £11 (concessions available). Coming soon!
Throughout October we will be screening weekly films related to the festival’s programme:
Sunday 6th October – Tish (2023) + Q&A panel discussion
An intimate, tender portrait of the late Tyneside photographer Tish Murtha.
Driven by a commitment to document the impact of deindustrialisation on working class communities in Northeast England in the 1970s and 80s, Murtha used her camera to expose societal inequality. However, despite early acclaim for her work, she was unable to make a living from photography and died in poverty.
This film is a journey of exploration for Ella Murtha, as both daughter and custodian of her mother’s archive. A chance to elevate and preserve a lost legacy, and to tell the story of an artist and woman outside of the mother she was familiar with, from the perspective of people Tish knew, and the images she left behind.
We have chosen to screen Tish specifically in connection with Kirsty Mackay’s exhibition, The Magic Money Tree, on view at Bricks St. Anne’s House throughout the festival.
Sunday 13th October – Shadow World (2016)
An investigation into the multi-billion dollar international arms trade, this documentary pulls back the curtain to reveal the real costs of war. It examines the complicity of all parties – from governments to intelligence agencies, arms dealers and manufacturers – in fostering corruption, undermining democracy and furthering conflict.
In shedding light on how our realities are being constructed, Johan Grimonprez’s timely exposé offers a way for audiences to see through this horror, in the hopes of creating a better future.
Sunday 20th October – Twice Colonized (2023)
Renowned Inuit lawyer Aaju Peter has led a lifelong fight for the rights of her people. But while launching an effort to establish an Indigenous forum at the European Union, Aaju finds herself facing a difficult, personal journey to mend her own wounds after the unexpected passing of her son.
In this powerful exploration of cultural trauma, director Lin Alluna follows alongside Aaju Peter as she strives to reclaim her language and identity after a lifetime of whitewashing and forced assimilation.
We have chosen to screen Twice Colonized specifically in relation to Inuuteq Storch’s exhibition, Porcelain Souls and Keepers of the Ocean, on view at Centrespace Gallery throughout the festival.
Sunday 27 October – I Am Not Everything I Want to Be (2024)
After the suppression of the Prague Spring in 1968, photographer Libuše Jarcovjáková strives to break free from the constraints of the repressive Czechoslovakian regime and embarks on a long journey towards freedom. As she moves from Prague to Berlin to Tokyo, Jarcovjáková captures her experiences on thousands of photographs, shown slide-show style in this unconventional, boundary-pushing documentary from Klára Tasovská.
Throughout the 1950s and 1960s, Herbert Shergold operated a commercial photography studio in Bristol, using glass plate negatives – an unusually antiquated technique popular in the 1910s – to create highly stylised portraits of actors as well as of his local community. In Shergold’s studio, Bristol’s working class residents were styled to appear as Hollywood film stars. We have invited the team at Negative Thinking – Bristol’s leading darkroom and analogue photography space – to run a drop-in workshop, exploring Shergold’s methods. Come along to explore large format cameras, glass plate negatives and other historic techniques.
The workshop will be drop-in and is suitable for all aged 6+.
Negative Thinking CIC is the home of analogue photography in Bristol. We have created a unique space for the photographic community where education, experimentation, creativity, and discovery are always encouraged.
Whether you’re a seasoned photographer or are just starting out on your analogue journey, the love of the craft of photography is what drives us.
AboutNegative Thinking
Negative Thinking is a place built for you – for the photographers, artists, historians, and printmakers; for the curious, the creative, the enthusiastic, and the passionate. Negative Thinking is a home for all, and we would be so excited for you to join us under the safelight!Negative Thinking CIC is a community darkroom, studio, and exhibition space, offering industry-leading workshops, courses, and educational partnerships focusing on hand-made, historic, and alternative process photography.
