Belfast Photo Festival
I’m delighted to be coordinating Belfast Photo Festival this year. Running from 1 – 30 June, the 2017 Festival has taken as its inspiration the visual politics of sexuality and the ways in which the camera is used to construct and deconstruct gender binaries.
Through a range of exhibitions, talks, workshops, screenings, masterclasses, reviews and tours, the Festival will explore how photography has a particular role in shaping ideas about identity and selfhood; how one sees oneself – authentically and transparently – and how one is viewed by others.
Exhibitions and events take place across public and private spheres, in which audiences can engage with discussion around contemporary gender discourse. Representation, self-portraiture, ideology, the body, fashion and community are enduring themes in photographic works that are truthful, celebratory, erotic, poignant, political and domestic.
Highlights of this year’s festival include collaborations with publications which foreground image and society: exhibitions staged with Dazed and Hello Mr magazines and a museum exhibition curated by the creator of the Conde Nast archive. Additionally, representatives from the V&A, MOMA and Vogue will contribute to a broad, exciting events and discussion programme.
The Belfast Photo Festival programme will launch on 12 May at Black Box, Belfast.
Image: Untitled, Juno Calypso, 2015. Courtesy of the artist and Golden Thread Gallery