Mercredi 31 Août 2016 12:00:36 par Alix Joly dans Expositions

Brighton Photo Fringe's press release

This year Brighton Photo Fringe brings you BPF16, the seventh edition of one of the largest and most inclusive photography festivals in the UK. An established month-long platform, the Photo Fringe festival supports photographers to organize self-curated exhibitions across the city of Brighton & Hove. BPF16’s prominent presence alongside the internationally acclaimed Brighton Photo Biennial enables the Photo Fringe to connect early-career artists to international audiences.

To complement the eclectic selection of exhibitions permeating the city this October we will be working closely with our print partner Metro Imaging – London’s most trusted and reliable pro lab – to support selected artists from open call for our many OPEN awards.

BPF16 presents its keynote exhibition OPEN16 Solo by Dana Ariel, who was selected from an international open call via LensCulture. The exhibition is hosted by our venue partner Phoenix Brighton.

Dana Ariel is a PhD student at Slade School of Fine Art, UCL. Ariel meticulously hand prints her photographs, and will present new work from her project Encountering Perforated Ground, taken in Israel and Palestine between 2014and 2016. Traces of past activities overlay and stain the ground, remaining invisible and concealed, as they tell a story of political erasure and displacement. Photography and the print function in Ariel’s works as methods of questioning language, seeing, and constructions of identity and memory. She experiments with dichotomies such as hospitality and hostility; military and play; seeing and unseeing.

Ariel says: “Encountering Perforated Ground emerged from the fascination with the German word verlernen – unlearning in English – which translates to a process of learning to forget. It is both my method of making and a method of encountering the landscape… These sites could be seen as non-sites; abandoned, forgotten, buried or blurred. In the midst of the erasure process, I encounter the extraordinary, the unbelievable, and record its traces with the use of photography, print, and words”.

HOLES  ©DANA ARIEL

Sarah Pickering, Artist & Teaching Fellow in Photography at Slade School of Fine Art says “Dana Ariel was selected because her quiet but powerful landscape work and accomplished printmaking manages to articulate ideas of personal narrative and the slipperiness of naming and place in relation to identity. This resonates with the political issues that we are encountering in sharp relief post referendum”.

Dana Ariel says: “I am incredibly delighted to be chosen for this year’s Brighton Photo Fringe solo exhibition. It will be a wonderful opportunity to exhibit my recent works that represent a shift in my practice in a lively and inspiring event that celebrates photography.”

Christiane Monarchi of Photo Monitor says: "Participating in the selection of Brighton Photo Fringe OPEN16 this year has been a rewarding experience, and the large number of interesting submissions from many countries made the final decision a difficult one. The selectors agreed that we would like to see and continue to discuss many of our short listed projects, twenty of which will be shown at Phoenix Brighton. Ultimately we are very excited to see the winning installation in Phoenix for its compelling visual narrative, range of printing and fresh engagement with landscape photography. I look forward to following Dana Ariel's practice in the years to come".

Dana Ariel was selected from over 150 submissions through an open call. BPF16 will have further open call opportunities including, OPEN Moving Image, OPEN Young Photographers, OPEN Collectives and OPEN Participation. These will be exhibited at Phoenix Brighton or the BPF16 Collectives Hub, which will temporarily occupy Brighton & Hove Council's former canteen at Kings House on Grand Avenue, Hove. Well known to all local residents as the main council building on the sea front in Hove, King’s House is now to be redeveloped. In true Fringe spirit, BPF will create a dynamic pop up gallery space, a place to share images, skills and photo talk. The Collectives’ Hub will showcase exhibitions by UK photography collectives alongside invited festivals from across Europe and a showcase by Metro Imaging staff.

The BPF16 events programme will include panel discussions, workshops, talks, guided tours and a book event.

TREES EAST  ©DANA ARIEL