The International Festival of Photography, or PHOTO 2024, has brought a strong artistic presence to Melbourne's CBD this month.
Held every two years in the Victorian capital as well as regional cities, PHOTO addresses major issues of our time through free exhibitions, outdoor exhibitions and artist commissions as well as awards, lectures, workshops, tours and film screenings.
PHOTO 2024 celebrates three icons of photography: Nan Goldin (USA), Malick Sidibé (Mali) and Rennie Ellis (Australia), and features more than 150 contemporary photographers and artists from Australia and around the world.
The Melbourne Central area is decorated with different international and domestic artists’ photos, filling the precinct with art and feeling of freedom.
Works by artist Malick Sidibé, The Eye of Bamako, are presented at the State Library Victoria. His artworks present the hopeful energy of Bamako, the capital of Mali, his hometown in the early years of Mali’s independence.
Including men, women, and children, Sidibé’s photos show the optimism of the people in those turbulent times.
According to the artist, people’s facial expressions are the reflection of the world.
“When I capture someone’s face, I see the future of the world,” Sidibé told The Guardian in a 2010 interview.
Alongside Mr Sidibé’s artworks, Rennie Ellis’s artworks show resistance in Australian society.
As one of Australia’s greatest chroniclers, Ellis documented protest in many guises over the decades, including political upheavals, anti-war marches and the women’s movement.
Ellis’s artworks depict Australian people's love of peace and the virtues of freedom and equality.
Near the State Library, Chinese artist Liu Di’s artworks, A Stubbornly Persistent Illusion, are presented at RMIT University.
In this artwork, Liu fantasises about the future world. Referencing film, architecture and spatial exploration, he seeks an unfamiliar aesthetic to ponder the question: what time and space are we living in?
Liu’s artwork shows strong imagination, creating a sense of beauty where ideals, technology and reality are intertwined.
As Liu is quoted on PHOTO 2024 festival website: “I have no position on what a perfect world could be, or judge the worlds I create.
“Whether they are good or bad worlds, whether you want to live in it or not.”
The artworks presented by PHOTO 2024 mix art and reality throughout the city, giving passersby a feeling of happiness and comfort.
John Chen, who is studying arts and design at RMIT University, says: “If you've walked around here in recent days, you'll be in for a treat!
“These photos show a different side of the world and you can see how people think about the past, the present, and the future,” Chen says.
“Meanwhile, as Melbourne's city centre, if you look at these photos and then look out at the surrounding landscape, you'll be amazed at the greatness of human civilisation.”
Chen says he is grateful for PHOTO 2024.
“The PHOTO changed the atmosphere here, making it like a novelty and international museum.”
As Australia's cultural centre, Melbourne's artistic scene has been admired by people all over the world. And as an important cultural festival in Australia, PHOTO demonstrates the inclusiveness of Melbourne's culture while allowing more people to understand the greatness of the art of photography.
PHOTO 2024 is on until this Sunday, March 24.