Iranian photographers competing in Pingyao festival
Compiled from Dispatches
Iranian photographers are taking part in the 2018 Pingyao International Photography Festival whose theme this year is ‘Crowd-innovation and Sharing’.
The 12 photographers will take part at the culture, art, traditions, form and architecture sections of the event, IRNA reported.
Iranian photographers are Marzieh Khoorsand, Mahnaz Shafei, Younes Kolahdooz, Ayiin Shahroodi, Hojjat Tarsaddi, Mohaddeseh Ahansazan, Mohammad Javad Adel-khani, Fahimeh Akbari, Mona Abdollahpour Araqi, Afsaneh Mahdavi, Alireza Mesgar Khouei and Zahra Saedi Tehrani.
The artists are members of Kargah-e Tahrir Khial Institute which also attended the 14th edition of the Chinese festival.
This year, the festival ushered in its 18th anniversary. Over the past 17 years, it has been keeping abreast of the times, and has become an international brand of fame, influence and authority both at home and abroad, as well as a shining business card of China dedicated with people’s hard work and wisdom.
This year’s exhibition is unprecedented, with 3,223 photographers from 35 countries and regions attending, including Iran, China, Russia, the US, the UK, Germany, France, Australia, Cuba, India, Singapore and the like. It includes 49 foreign exhibitions, with 262 artists and 1,762 works.
American contemporary photographer Neal Slavin appeared in Pingyao and exhibited his works for the first time in China. He has been engaged in portrait photography for more than 40 years and has taken portraits for former US president Bill Clinton and famous director Spielberg. France’s famous curator Dominique Charlet is featured in a group exhibition with works of photographers from five nations; the famous German curator Thomas Kellner once again presented the rigor of German photography with still life photos; Cuban photographers and their works are worthy of attention in this year’s exhibition, especially the work of the late Cuban photographer, Jose Manuel Acosta, the pioneer of world modern photography.
In the domestic exhibition section, the 18th edition of Pingyao International Photography Festival pays tribute to An Ge. As an important figure of Chinese photography in the 1980s, An Ge has photographed thousands of precious negatives in decades, recording Chinese folk life as well as the rapidly changing era of reform and opening up with folk standpoint. Having photographed a large number of group photos with the characteristics of the times, he is an important image recorder of the development of Chinese society in the Deng Xiaoping era.
The exhibitions of colleges and universities have always been an important unit, with more than 100 schools attending, 18 from foreign countries and 84 from China. The works introduce a new generation of photographers.