Bristol Photo Festival

Hapax Magazine: Open Call + Festival Closing Party

Posted on September 9, 2024November 8, 2024 by BPFTest_Admin

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 also marks the closing of the festival – come down to help us celebrate.

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 do you have peace?

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 The only condition is that the work must be currently unpublished and cannot have been shown in exhibitions to date.

The deadline for submissions is Sunday 3rd November (midnight).

Selection Process

All selections will be viewed by a panel including:

Christiane Monarchi – Hapax Co-Editor & Photomonitor Editor
Gordon MacDonald – Hapax Co-Editor (Gost Books, Photoworks)
Tamsin Silvey – Curator (Historic England)
Alejandro Acin – Bristol Photo Festival Director
Kirsty Mackay – Photographer

Weaving Narratives Opening Event

Posted on September 9, 2024September 20, 2024 by BPFTest_Admin

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

Posted on September 9, 2024September 20, 2024 by BPFTest_Admin

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.

Pre-Salon Exhibition Guided Tour: Realms of Memory exhibition (2pm – 2:30pm)

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.

Job Opportunity: Venue Coordinator

Posted on September 1, 2024September 11, 2024 by BPFTest_Admin

Bristol Photo Festival is offering 4 paid positions to help us run some of the exhibition venues across the city. Please find the application with all the details below.

Application Pack: Venue Coordinator

Bristol Photo Festival is an international biennial of contemporary photography, shaped by the movements of the city. The second edition, entitled The World a Wave, will open in Autumn 2024:

– Opening week: Wednesday 16th October – Sunday 20th October. The opening week will include late openings, talks and other events.

– Full exhibition programme: Wednesday 16th October – Sunday 17th November. While venue opening days and times vary, all exhibitions will be open for one month, Thursday – Sunday, 12-5pm. Some exhibitions at major venues will stay open across the week, while also continuing until the new year.

The festival programme focuses upon a world in constant motion; where the social, political and environmental conditions of shared life are always changing and becoming otherwise. Exhibiting artists include: Akosua Viktoria Adu-Sanyah, Ariella Azoulay, Ritual Inhabitual, Andrew Jackson, Rinko Kawauchi, Billy H.C Kwok, Jay Lau, Kirsty Mackay, Amak Mahmoodian, Trent Parke, Nigel Poor, Sarker Protick, Bandia Ribeira, Hashem Shakeri, Herbert Shergold and Inuuteq Storch.

Venues include: Arnolfini Gallery, Bristol Museum & Art Gallery, Georgian House Museum, M Shed, Martin Parr Foundation, Royal Photographic Society, IC Visual Lab, 17 Midland Road, Bricks St. Anne’s House, The Laundrette, Centrespace & St Paul’s Crypt, with others still to be confirmed.

About the Role

We are looking to appoint 4 x Venue Coordinators. As a Venue Coordinator you will play an essential role, supporting the daily operations of our festival venues. A typical day could include the following:

Opening a festival venue in the morning, including unlocking the doors, turning on the lights and making sure the exhibition is ready for the public.
Welcoming volunteers who will be supporting the invigilation of the exhibition.
Welcoming members of the public to the exhibition, providing them with information on the artist.
Creating social media posts about the exhibition, to be shared by the festival team.
Taking donations using the festival’s digital payment system.
Recording visitor numbers to be sent to the wider festival team.
Supporting visitors to complete evaluation and feedback forms.

About You

We’re looking for enthusiastic, well-organised and sociable individuals to join our team. It doesn’t matter if you haven’t worked for a festival before, we’re interested in hearing how your experience will help you to fulfil the role. We are particularly looking for the following skills and experience:

Reliable and well-organised, including an ability to work independently.
Excellent communication skills and an ability to talk to any member of the public.
An ability to problem-solve and find solutions to everyday work problems.
A keen interest in photography, visual culture and contemporary social issues.

If you believe that you are the right person for this role, we want to hear from you.

Job Details

The job is a fixed-term contract for the duration of the festival which is from Wednesday 16th October – Sunday 17th November. You will be scheduled to work 4 x days a week (Thursday-Sunday), from 11.45am – 17.15pm. You will be paid £11.44 an hour, with an estimated 26 hours a week.

Salary: £11.44 per hour
Contract: fixed term (16th October – 17th November)
Location: venues across Bristol

How to Apply

Please send a cover letter and CV to info@bristolphotofestival.org Subject: VENUE COORDINATOR

Please use the cover letter to outline how your experience to date enables you to meet the 4 bullet points listed under ‘About You’ above. The cover letter should be no more than one side of A4 in length and the CV should be no more than 2 sides (both at size 12 font).

The deadline for applications is Tuesday 17th September at 5pm.

Interview Process

Interviews will take place on Wednesday 25th September. Each interview will be approximately 30 minutes in length. Further details will be sent to all interviewees beforehand.

BOP Bookfair

Posted on September 9, 2024September 20, 2024 by BPFTest_Admin

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.

Entry to the festival is FREE, artist talks will be ticketed at £6 each or £4 for members and students. Booking for the BOP 24 programme of artist talks is now live.

And link to tickets here – https://bopbristol.org/talks

The bookfair is produced in collaboration with:

The Prison Mobile Library

Posted on September 4, 2024September 4, 2024 by BPFTest_Admin

Supporting incarcerated people to develop and publish first-person stories, using photography and creative writing.

While every prison contains a library, how many of the books have been written by authors with direct experience of incarceration? What would it mean to create a library of books created by those imprisoned, speaking directly to those facing the same challenges?

The Prison Mobile Library is a collaboration between IC Visual Lab, Bristol Photo Festival and Weston College. Through a series of workshops, we are inviting imprisoned individuals across three prisons (HMP Bristol, Dartmoor & Exeter) to create new stories, using photography and creative writing. The results will be published, available from participating prison libraries, and displayed as part of the festival (details to be announced Summer 2024).

This project is supported by:

All That Flows Comes To Rest

Posted on September 4, 2024September 9, 2024 by BPFTest_Admin

Exploring the past, present and future of Avonmouth, Bristol’s industrial port community.

The village of Avonmouth lies where the river Avon meets the Severn Estuary. It has thus served as a historic entrance to the city of Bristol, a place through which all ships passed on their way to the centre of the city. The port of Avonmouth grew rapidly in the early 20th century, a place where larger ships could unload, avoiding the sometimes treacherous journey up the river Avon to central Bristol. At its height, the port of Avonmouth supported approximately 5000 jobs, however the invention of container ships led to a rapid decline in the number of dockworkers required.

Today, the port is a successful operation, receiving goods from across the world. However, few residents of Bristol travel to Avonmouth, seeing it solely as a site of industrial work. This belies the fact that Avonmouth is a place that many call home; an intergenerational and multicultural community that contains myriad stories that speak to the changing nature of place, labour and globalisation.

In collaboration with Avonmouth Community Centre and the Bristol Port Company, we are building a resident-led community archive, collecting materials that speak to the contemporary history of Avonmouth. We will also be organising a series of micro-commissions, supporting artists to work with local residents, telling the story of Avonmouth today.

For the festival, we will organise a weekend of events, sharing the outcomes of our work in Avonmouth. Details will be announced Summer 2024.

The title All That Flows Comes To Rest is inspired by the work of artist Allan Sekula, creator of The Dockers’ Museum, a vast collection of artefacts that form an image of the world from the perspective of maritime labourer; the one who is always standing on the threshold between land and sea.

This project is supported by:

Project in collaboration with:

Project supported by: