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.
Anieszka 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. For those events with tickets, book early 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 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 will be available on a first-come-first-served basis.
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 BMAG Contemporary Curator Julia Carver & festival curator Alejandro Acin, followed by a community lunch (free, booking required), served by festival collaborators Afghan Tasty Corner.
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 meal, 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.
2 November 2024. 12-4pm. Venue: The Laundrette, 145 Cheltenham Road, Bristol, BS6 5RR Free entry, donations welcome.
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.
Sunday 10th November. 2pm to 4.30pm. Location: M Shed. Free entry, donations welcome.
Join us to celebrate the group exhibition Dreamlines. During summer 2023, Bristol Photo Festival, in collaboration with Historic England and Bristol City Council, invited 14 photographers to collaborate with local communities, creating a portrait of Bristol today. Highlights included:
Clementine Schneidermann collaborated with the Shire Stitchers, a local textiles group based in Shirehampton, to create a series of quilts that included new photographic portraits of the women involved.
After researching Two Mile Hill’s historic brass band parade – which in its heyday draw 10,000 participants – Sebastian Bruno worked with current members of the local Salvation Army to restage the parade today.
Jessie Edwards-Thomas and Kelly O’brien worked with elders from Acta Community Theatre to explore overlooked histories of working class labour in South Bristol.
After finding an image of Shirehampton Men’s Social Club from 1951, Chris Hoare set out to document the club today, creating an updated portrait of its membership.
Esther May-Campbell set herself the challenge of photographing every business along Church Road. Along the way she photographed local families, religious leaders, undertakers, key cutters, hairdressers and many more besides.
Grounded in the desire to increase the visibility of women of colour, Jade Carr-Daley joined a group for young mothers that meets regularly on Stapleton Road. Together they created a series of portraits that examine experiences of Black motherhood.
The Community Event
The event offers a chance to view the exhibition, which will contain works by all of the participating photographers. The Bristol Photo Festival team will talk about the production of the project, inviting some of the photographers and project participants to share their experiences. Light refreshments will be served.
The full line-up of photographers includes: Khali Ackford, Michael Alberry, Sebastian Bruno, Esther May Campbell, Jade Carr-Daley, Yuko Edwards, Mohammad Hassan, Chris Hoare, Kirsty Mackay, Lua Ribeira, Clementine Schneidermann, Mikael Techane and Jessie Edwards Thomas & Kelly O’Brien.
16th November 2024. 6-10pm. Location: Lost and Grounded Taproom. Free entry, donations welcome.
In collaboration with Hapax Magazine, Bristol Photo Festival is holding an open-call for new photographic projects. Artists and photographers are invited to submit a body of work. A shortlist of selected works will be screened throughout the evening, with a winner announced at the end of the night. The winner will be supported to develop a solo exhibition to be presented at Bristol Photo Festival 2026 and a concurrent feature in Hapax Magazine.
The Evening
The evening will include the launch of Issue 6 of Hapax magazine with a brief introduction by the magazine’s editors, Christiane Monarchi and Gordon MacDonald. There will be copies of the magazine available to view and buy on the night. Following this, there will be a screening of new photographic projects by emerging Vietnamese photographers, organised by Bristol Photo Festival in collaboration with Matca (Hanoi). The screenings will culminate with the presentation of the open-call shortlist, with the announcement of the winner. If they are an international entry, we will try to get them to zoom in, just like a real awards ceremony.
The evening will conclude with a DJ set by members of Birds of Peace Orchestra.
The Open-Call
This programme is intended to support artists and photographers who are working on long-term projects that would be ready for exhibition in 2026. The project can be ongoing with intentions to continue producing work over the coming months. Everyone is free to enter and there are no restrictions in terms of age, professional experience or geographic location. The only condition is that the work must be currently unpublished and cannot have been shown in exhibitions to date.
While there are no restrictions, we particularly encourage the following:
Expanded approaches to visual storytelling that combine multiple forms of image-making. For example, your project might include new images alongside archival or gathered materials. Alternatively, you might combine image and text.
Projects that find new approaches to address ongoing social and political issues.
Collaborative projects where participants have the opportunity to create part of the work.
International projects from artists and photographers who have never had the opportunity to show their work in the UK.
Projects that have a direct relationship to the city of Bristol, its many communities and histories.
Projects that address ideas of memory, movement and relation.
Please send a selection of up to 20 images, a brief artist statement and CV as follows:
All materials (images, statement & CV) should be in a zipped folder. The folder should be titled ‘Your Name_Hapax & BPF Open Call’
All images should be labelled with your name plus their corresponding number in the series. For example ‘Your Name_01’.
All images should be jpeg, 300 dpi and medium resolution (average 3 mb per file), appropriate for screening.
The artist statement should be no more than one side of A4 text (size 12 font). Please provide an outline of the project, including how you would like to develop it prior to Bristol Photo Festival 2026.
The CV should be no more than one side of A4, providing a brief outline of your journey to date.
14th October 2024 12.30-14.30pm. Location: University of Bristol, Ivy Gate, University of Bristol. Free, donations welcome.
Join us to celebrate the outcomes of Weaving Narratives, a collaborative project led by artists Nilupa Yasmin and Jessa Fairbrother as part of Brigstow Institute’s (University of Bristol) city-wide Co-stitch project. The project brings researchers and community groups together, exploring communal stitching (embroidery, quilting, mending) as a form of storytelling. Throughout summer 2023, Yasmin and Fairbrother worked with community groups across the city, with a particular focus on diasporic communities who have arrived in Bristol seeking refuge. Join us to celebrate the outcomes of the work.
Location
Ivy Gate Square (North East of Royal Fort House), University of Bristol, Tyndall Avenue, Bristol, BS8 1FD. To note, the square can be accessed from the steps leading up from St. Michaels Hill, from Tyndall Avenue, or through Royal Fort Gardens.
Realms of Memory History Salon: Overseas Chinese Merchants, Aw Boon Haw and the Tiger Balm Mansion. With contributions from Kelvin Chan and Billy H.C. Kwok.
26 October 2024 2pm – 4pm. Location: Royal Photographic Society Auditorium. Free but booking essential. Language: Cantonese.
History Salon (2.30pm-4pm)
Hong Kong has been a crucial site for connecting the overseas Chinese diaspora across Southeast Asia with China. This History Salon – organised by the University of Bristol’s Hong Kong History Centre – focuses on the story of Aw Boon Haw, the founder of Tiger Balm ointment and Sing Tao Daily newspaper. He began his medical business in Singapore, later shifting the headquarters to Hong Kong in the 1930s. He became one of the most successful overseas Chinese merchants by investing in philanthropy, architecture, and media. So, why did he come to Hong Kong? How did overseas investment shape the history of Hong Kong and modern China? Kelvin Chan will discuss the patterns of Chinese migration, explore the connections between China, Hong Kong, and Southeast Asia, and highlight the lasting legacies of Aw through the Tiger-Balm Mansion. In addition, photographer Billy H.C. Kwok will share the ways he employs AI generation software to contest the memories and imaginations of the Tiger Balm Mansion, and how the derivative memories from these AI-generated images traverse between reality and illusion.
Join a Cantonese language tour of the accompanying exhibition Realms of Memory, which includes Billy H.C. Kwok’s artistic exploration of the Tiger Balm mansion. The tour will be led by WMA, a Hong Kong-based art organisation. WMA is the programme partner of this Hong Kong History Salon, as well as a cultural partner of the Bristol Photo Festival 2024.
Tickets
Tickets are free however booking is essential. Please register your spot via Ticketpass: https://tktp.as/EGZERU
Venue
Royal Photographic Society, 337 Paintworks, Bristol, BS4 3AR
Please note, both events will primarily be delivered in Cantonese. Refreshments will be provided.
