“Plein nord”: this is the course set for the summer for the 18th edition of the La Gacilly photographic festival, whose exhibitions are presented outdoors in the alleys and gardens of the small town of Morbihan.
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Free, the festival, which welcomes some 300,000 visitors each year, is turning this year to the Scandinavian countries with the desire to “to highlight the creative and often unrecognized power of artists” Northern Europe, in the words of Cyril Drouhet, exhibition curator, Thursday at a press conference.
Between sky and ice
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© Tina Itkonen
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Scandinavian photography in the spotlight
Among these photographers, various approaches for a magnified nature and humans frequently on borrowed time: from the threatened life of an Inuït community in Greenland by the Finnish photographer Tiina Itkonen, to the astonishing series of portraits of birds captured in the studio of his compatriot Sanna Kannisto, or the Swede Erik Johansson for whom the shooting is only the first step in a long process of recreating the image.
Trompe l’oeil
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© Erik Johansson
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Yet another approach with the Norwegian Jonas Bendikson, of the Magnum agency, who reveals on the one hand, in his native country, the rural region of Vesteralen, and, on the other, the dramatic consequences of global warming and the rising waters in a vast report from the plateaus of Tibet to the plains of Asia.
These photographers from the North all have in common a look mixed with poetry, sometimes tinged with surrealism, to awaken our consciences to better understand the world of tomorrow.
AFP’s perspective on cold countries
As part of a partnership with AFP, the work of two photographers from the press agency on this Nordic universe will be exhibited: the Swede Jonathan Näckstrand and the French Olivier Morin.
Semersooq, with its colorful houses on the south-eastern shore of Greenland and its floating icebergs. Photo taken August 19, 2019.
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© Jonathan Näckstrand / AFP
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Beyond the Scandinavian heart of this edition, several other exhibitions are scheduled. We will thus discover the American Nick Brandt who offers a “visionary work” on the devastating effects of galloping urbanization, or the French Mathias Depardon who followed the Tiger River from Turkey to the marshes of Basra (Iraq), partially drained by dams upstream.
A pioneer from the outset in highlighting climate issues under its slogan “People and nature”, La Gacilly once again intends “show in images, through the eyes of artists, the precarious beauty of our land” and “re-enchant our lives”, summarized Cyril Drouhet.
Indonesian surfer Edi Siswanto rides a stand-up paddle (SUP) under the Northern Lights in Unstad, Lofoten Islands, beyond the Arctic Circle, September 27, 2019.
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© Olivier Morin / AFP
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The exact date for hanging the exhibitions has not yet been specified, pending the evolution of the health context, but the 2020 edition took place without major difficulty, the festival being outdoors.
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