A event held at Watershed on Friday 18th October. The event starts at 10:00.
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 Photographic, The British Journal of Photography and the University of the West of England.
BIOGRAPHIES
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.
—
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.
—
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).
—
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.
—
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.
—
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.
—
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.
Entry requirements: no age restrictions
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 Photographic, The British Journal of Photography and the University of the West of England.
BIOGRAPHIES
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.
—
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.
—
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).
—
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.
—
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.
—
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.
—
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.
Entry requirements: no age restrictions
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