LOOK/13: Who Do You Think You Are?
Ahead of the launch of international photography festival LOOK/13, Stephanie Kehoe picks her best of the fest…
From Friday 17th May, Liverpool will call itself home to the international photography festival, LOOK/13. Spread across a host of institutions within the city centre, the Look festival challenges visitors – through the medium of photography – on their perceptions of identity, getting to grips with the question which confronts us all: “who do you think you are?”
After the success of the LOOK/11 festival, the organisation has returned bigger and better, biennial-fashion, to showcase a diverse line-up of photographers from across the globe, as well as locally, to reflect on the theme. The range of exhibitions, screenings, workshops, talks and tours means visitors are spoilt for choice.
Featuring at the Bluecoat, I Exist (In Some Way) contains works by various international photographers who are currently active within the contemporary Arabic scene. Providing some context with a curator and artist led talk is Sara-Jayne Parsons, exhibition curator at the Bluecoat, who is joined by one of the featured artists, Laura El-Tantawy on Sunday the 19th of May.
Taking a historical perspective on how identity is a constantly changing idea, and running in parallel to I Exist (In Some Way), is a retrospective of two globally infamous photographers: August Sander and Arthur Fellig. With Sander’s documentation of Germany in the 1920s and ‘30s, alongside Fellig’s photography of 1930s and ‘40s New York, we are given a first-hand point of view of two opposing nations and how their identities contrasted during these uncertain points in their histories.
Bearing in mind Liverpool’s cultural and economic upheavals within the past century, the Walker features two of Merseyside’s most influential photographers, who documented Liverpool and its surrounding areas during the 1970s and 80s. Providing an insight into how the city looked and thrived nearly half a century ago, before the decline of the formerly world-renowned working docks, Martin Parr and Tom Wood appear together in a project titled Every Man and Woman is a Star.
Speaking of the docks, the North West’s only dedicated photography gallery, Open Eye (located next to the river in Mann Island), showcases two photographers exploring the theme of searching for identity on a global scale. French photographer Charles Fréger will be exhibiting a project titled The Wild and the Wise. Visually interrogating the relationship between cultural identities, Fréger juxtaposes them against diverse cultural stereotypes.
The gallery is also exhibiting Drape, by Eva Stenram. In an interesting comparison to Charles Fréger’s project, which concentrates on male identity, Stenram plays with the ideas of the male gaze by altering found images of women, placing them behind drapes with only a portion of their body exposed. Definitely a destination for those of us fascinated by theory.
The Parallel Programme is an additional source of activities running for the duration of the festival, including Manchester-based photography group, Redeye, who will be exhibiting new and upcoming photographers across different venues, under the title of Lightbox. Supplementary to this, the Caravan Gallery are creating an exhibition of regional/cultural pride, asking all residents of the Merseyside area to contribute, the results of which will be based outside of the Museum of Liverpool.
The LOOK/13 festival looks to be both thought-provoking and reflective journey, questioning ideas of personal, local and global identity; and with so many exhibitions, events and activities organised around the city, it will be impossible to avoid pondering, just who do you think you are?
Stephanie Kehoe
LOOK/13 runs 17th May – 15th June. For all additional information, events and exhibitions visit LOOK/13 online
