Photoville presents three Dutch exhibitions at its 10th anniversary festival

Sat, Sep 18 - Wed, Dec 1  2021

From September 18 – December 1, 2021, the Photoville Festival returns for its 10th anniversary year with a free community day, virtual online storytelling events, artist talks, workshops, demonstrations, educational programs, community programming, and over 80 open-air exhibitions across parks and public spaces throughout New York City till December 1, 2021. The festival includes presentations of work by Cigdem Yuksel, Isabelle Pateer and fifteen talented photographers from Europe presented by International Photo Festival Leiden.

Cigdem Yuksel, A New Beginning at Photoville 2021. Curated by Melkweg Expo and Prospektor. Image courtesy of the artist

A New Beginning by Cigdem Yuksel, presented by Melkweg Expo and Prospektor

Who are you and who do you want to become? And what if you had to reinvent yourself? In A New Beginning, photographer Cigdem Yuksel works with young people who, after their flight to the Netherlands, start a search for their (new) identity. The youngsters express themselves through tattoos, poems, rap or Instagram posts. They look cool and tough, but they are also fragile. Together with Cigdem they start searching for a way to narrate their story.

Cigdem asks them what they feel when they think back to their journey, when they think about their fears, nightmares, the absence of their parents. Which feeling, image, shape and color do they envisage? How would they depict that? With these youngsters she also takes a look at their future. How do they see themselves, now and later? What do they derive strength and pleasure from?

Transmedia project Shadow Game

A New Beginning is part of the transmedia project Shadow Game by Eefje Blankevoort and Els van Driel, produced in close collaboration with journalist and translator Zuhoor al Qaisi. The project consists of a long documentary (90 min), a series of short follow-up documentaries (30 min), an impact campaign, adventure game and a multimedia series / exhibition in collaboration with Cigdem Yuksel.

Together with the kids from the film, they launched the manifesto ‘Protect children on the move’. With four recommendations to Dutch and European politicians to better protect unaccompanied refugee children. You can read and sign the manifesto here.

About Cigdem Yuksel

Photographer Cigdem Yuksel (1989) started her photography career at Dutch newspaper de Volkskrant, focusing on migration, refugees, and identity. In May 2016, she traveled to Gaziantep, Turkey, with two reporters to make a harrowing portrait series of Syrian child refugees working in textile and shoe factories. Upon her return, she was awarded the prestigious Zilveren Camera Award. The jury praised the way her photo series confronts Western consumers with the consequences of our political and economic policies.

In the past two years, her focus has shifted to perception and the power of the photographer. For that reason, she started a study of our collective visual memory and the visual representation of Muslim women in the Netherlands. This resulted in a much-discussed research report from 2020, in which she examined the representation of Muslim women in the image database of the Dutch press agency ANP.

As a photographer, Yuksel wants to change both the historical archive and the collective visual memory in the Netherlands. Who gets to decide which photos and stories will be included in our archive and which are left out? Why is that? In order to challenge this, she started portraying the first generation of Turkish women in the Netherlands to create a new visual archive.

About Melkweg Expo

Melkweg Expo is an exhibition space for contemporary photography and a platform for young artists, located in the heart of Amsterdam. With a focus on photography that explores identity, society, and pop culture, the exhibition space is also known to occasionally place other forms of visual art alongside photography with conviction. Characterized by a distinctly playful and accessible approach, Melkweg Expo seeks to unveil high quality art—art that is innovative, engaging, and inclusive.

Melkweg Expo’s main goal is to nurture and promote emerging talent and present them to a broad audience. With the help of local and international allies, Melkweg Expo presents a unique and largely free program made up of 10 exhibitions annually, a multidisciplinary festival, events offering emerging photographers advice, portfolio reviews, enlightening talks, screenings, and numerous social gatherings. Melkweg Expo is supported by the Mondriaan Fund.

About Prospektor

Prospektor is a documentary production agency founded by Eefje Blankevoort and Arnold van Bruggen. Prospektor makes interactive documentaries as well as podcasts, books, and exhibitions—often at the same time. They are interested in stories that bring about change, stories that can tip someone’s perspective. Not from black to white or vice versa, but in a more layered and complex way—using stories that can accommodate different voices, stories that can counter uninformed cynicism.

Prospektor believes in experimentation, cross-pollination, talent development, and multi-disciplinary work. Prospektor is formed by many co-creators.

Isabelle Pateer, UNSETTLED. Image courtesy of the artist

Unsettled by Isabelle Pateer

UNSETTLED (2008 – 2021) is a long-term project on change and the environment. It addresses a current topic with global relevance—the series documents the evolution of the Antwerp harbor expansion zone in Belgium. The area is undergoing major transitions through vast industrial expansions and related nature compensation plans imposed by the European Union to balance the industrial growth with ecological areas and protect the hinterland against rising sea levels.

Starting from this local example in Belgium, the UNSETTLED project refers to a global tendency of industrial, economic, and environmental shifts and the challenge of balancing these elements for a sustainable future.

The series shows layered landscapes of the transforming area—either for industrial or compensating nature targets, interior images of abandoned houses in the endangered village of Doel, or portraits of young inhabitants in the area who will need to migrate because of the harbor expansion and nature compensation plans.

The project touches upon notions such as progress, change, ecology, climate change, sustainability, rising sea levels, global trade, the value of land, migration, and the connection between identity and our surroundings.

About Isabelle Pateer

Isabelle Pateer holds an MFA (2003, Brussels) and works as a freelance portrait and documentary photographer on personal series as well as commissioned work for international clients—among which are the New York Times and the Financial Times.

Her work has been exhibited worldwide, including shows at Photo IS:RAEL (IL, 2020), Rencontres d’Arles (FA, 2018), Museum of Photography Brussels (BE 2017), International Photography Festival Hull (UK, 2016), Triennale der Photographie Deichtorhallen, Hamburg (DE, 2015), MoMa Tbilisi (GE, 2014), Royal Geographical Society London (UK, 2014), Galerie Lichtblick Cologne (DE, 2013), Copenhagen Photo Festival (DK, 2013), Photofusion Gallery London (UK, 2013), PHOTOVISA Krasnodar (RU, 2013), Fotofestiwal Lodz (PL, 2012), and Daegu Photo Biennale (SK, 2010) among others.

With her project UNSETTLED, she was a finalist of the Photo Israel Open Call (IL, 2020), Prix Régnier Paris (FA, 2019), and International Photography Award Encontros Da Imagem Braga (PT, 2019), nominated for the PhotoLux Festival Award by Lydia Dorner, Musée de l’Elysée, Lausanne (CH, 2019), awardee of the Julia Margaret Cameron Awards (UK, 2019), first prize winner of the Photovisa contest Krasnodar (RU, 2013), and a finalist of the Environmental Photographer of the Year Contest (UK, 2014), Kolga Tbilisi Awards (GE, 2012), and Grand Prix Fotofestiwal Lodz (PL, 2012).

Image courtesy of Pascale Hustings

The International Photo Festival Leiden presents: 15 talented photographers from Europe

The International Photo Festival Leiden (IPFL) proudly presents the work of 15 talented photographers, selected by the professional jury. The selection gives a fine impression of the diverse talent of these up-and-coming photographers, originating from the Netherlands, Belgium, Sweden, and Germany, among others. All genres are represented: from documentary to portrait, or landscape to macro photography.

The fifth edition of the International Photo Festival Leiden (IPFL) takes place in Leiden, Netherlands, from Sept. 17 to Oct. 31, 2021. For six weeks, the Singelpark in the city of Leiden is entirely dedicated to the world of photography. In addition to the various outdoor exhibitions, the festival offers a versatile and high-quality fringe program.

Featuring: Kristel ter Beek, Jesper Boot, Erik van Cuyk, David de Haan, Elena Helfrecht, Pascale Hustings, Tahné Kleijn, Xenia Klein, Laura Koolen, Yael Laroes, Julian Simon Pache, Sebastian Steveniers, Hristina Tasheva, Roosje Verschoor, Doro Zinn.

Curated by: Evita Marchena and Patricia Nauta

About the International Photo Festival Leiden

The aims of the International Photo Festival Leiden are to provide exposure for young international photography talents—to provide a platform of photography to the general public and promote the city of Leiden as a key to discovery in general.