Photo from "The Black Sea of Concrete" series by Rafał Milach
As announced, the main themes of this year’s festival are the “noble print” and “return to the 19th century techniques,” having a popular comeback in the current flood of digital production.While the leading exhibition of the festival is by Mexico’s Graciela Iturbide, the winner of the Hasselblad award (a.k.a. the “Photographic Nobel”), alongside are prominent Polish artists appearing throughout the event. An engaging selection from documentary photographer Rafał Milach – also awarded the World Press Photo and Magnum Expression Award – includes The Present Day at the Black Sea on view at the Polish Institute in Bratislava. Fellow artist Jan Brykczyński’s solo show, The World of the Boiko Village in the Ukrainian Carpathians can be seen at Gallery F7 in Bratislava. Visitors can also surprise themselves with a selection from former Polish photojournalist Julia Pirotte, who worked in Marseille during the WWII. Pirotte’s Faces and Hands by a Somewhat Forgotten Polish Photographer of the 40s and 50s can be viewed at the Exhibition Hall of the University of Bratislava. Other exhibitions that reflect current trends in European photography include, for the first time, a selection from the Sony World Photography Awards, representing a broad range in photographic genres.
In addition to the exhibition program, there are curiosity events and attractions for photography lovers throughout November. These include Rafał Milach’s workshop on breaking through the current professional photographic world; a specialized technical workshop in gum bichromate; other related guided tours, book presentations and conferences. Among these, indeed, the most popular is the Portfolio Review – 15th international meeting of photographers, which is attended by over thirty experts from thirteen different countries, and which provides a unique opportunity for artists at various levels to share their work with the prominent figures of world photography. Visitors can access the schedule of events and register in advance on the festival’s website.
The 23rd Month of Photography is organized by FOTOFO and The Central European House of Photography as part of the European Month of Photography concurrently held in Paris, Vienna, Berlin, Budapest, Ljubljana and Luxembourg. Visitors blend colors of approaching European fall with photographic recollections of the past and the present.
Edited by Elcin Marasli, 12/11/2013