The mayor (RN) of Perpignan refused, on Saturday August 31, to award the Golden Visa to Gazan photographer Loay Ayyoub, denouncing his “treatment” of the war in Gaza.
“I will not be presenting the award this year.” Every year, the city of Perpignan (Pyrénées-Orientales) organizes its famous international photojournalism festival, Visa pour l’image. Inaugurated on Saturday August 31, the 36th edition of the festival finds itself caught up in a political controversy involving the city’s Rassemblement National mayor. As reported by The IndependentLouis Aliot announced that he would not award the 2024 Perpignan Rémi Ochlik Visa d’Or to Gazan photographer Loay Ayyoub.
Explaining not having been “informed”he declared before the crowd: “I will not be presenting the award this year, neither I nor anyone from the city.” The exhibition by the Palestinian photojournalist traces the daily lives of Gazans, who have been in the grip of a severe humanitarian crisis since the start of the war following the Hamas attacks on October 7.
Louis Aliot, however, does not intervene in the editorial line of the festival.
Claiming to be “very uncomfortable with the treatment of this war” by the photographer, Louis Aliot also pinned down Loay Ayyoub’s political opinion on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. “In many of his social media posts, Loay Ayyoub does not talk about Hamas but about the ‘Palestinian Resistance'” judged the mayor of Perpignan. “I would have preferred to award a prize to a totally independent photographer”he added.
As he recalled, Louis Aliot does not intervene in the editorial line of the festival, nor in the choice of prizes. Indeed, this responsibility falls to a jury of professionals, as recalled by the director of the Visa pour l’Image festival, Jean-François Leroy. “They voted for Loay Ayyoub, that’s it. It’s not up to me to interpret Mr. Aliot’s decisions.”he commented.
published on August 31 at 6:25 p.m., Angéline Da Costa, 6Medias
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