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Picture This Annual Citywide FotoWeekDC Exposes Local, Global Talent by Lisa Troshinsky
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hotography enthusiasts are certain to have plenty to look at during the eye-opening annual FotoWeekDC festival, a visual feast of exhibitions and programs scheduled for Nov. 8 to 16 throughout Washington, D.C. Now in its seventh year, this eclectic celebration is set to dominate D.C. embassies, museums, and commercial and nonprofit galleries with a wide range of camera work. Fine art, photojournalism, documentary pieces and even Instagram shots — from both local and international artists — will be on display. The event, which started in 2008 with 20,000 participants, has since doubled in size, E. Brady Robinson, chair of the FotoWeek Board of Directors, told The Diplomat. Last year, the festival topped out with 40,000 participants, she said. This year FotoWeekDC has over 50 cultural partners, which means over 50 exhibitions and events. Partners include Spain arts & culture, the cultural arm of the embassy that’s housed in the former ambassador’s residence, as well as the JBG Companies. Throughout the week, the festival will feature a photo contest and juried exhibition, gallery openings, lectures, educational workshops, portfolio reviews and book signings, many of which are free of charge. Other partners include the Goethe-Institut, National Geographic Your Shot, the Smithsonian, National Gallery of Art, Holocaust Museum, Mexican Cultural Institute, House of Sweden, the embassies of France and Canada, Glen Echo Park and the National Museum of Women in the Photo: © roB hornStrA / courteSy FlAtlAnd GAllery, APerture/the SochI ProJect, 2013 Arts. As part of FotoWeekDC, photos from “the Sochi Project: An Atlas of War and tourism in the caucasus,” One of this year’s main attractions is “The Sochi Project:An Atlas of War above and left, will be on display at the Spanish ambassador’s former residence, which will also feature and Tourism in the Caucasus.”This exhibit, which chronicles the story of the collective photo exhibit “new Spanish Photography_Visions Beyond Borders,” seen below. Sochi, Russia, site of the 2014 Winter Olympics, was co-founded by Dutch artists Rob Hornstra and Arnold van Bruggen and organized by Aperture New York. FotoWeekDC Photographer Hornstra and writer-filmmaker Van Bruggen nov. 8 to 16 pride themselves on practicing “slow-form journalism,” in which throughout Washington, D.C. research and time allow for a deeper investigation — in this For information, please visit case, an investigation that started in 2007 to document Sochi’s www.fotodc.org/fotoweekdc/. seismic growth as it prepared for the Games, as well as its contrasting character as a glamorous resort town located next door harsh light on Vladimir Putin’s to a major conflict zone. Viewers can expect to get a wider glimpse of Sochi than what aired on claim that, ‘The Olympic family is television during the Olympic Games.As one could expect, the stories told by going to feel at home in Sochi.’” “The Sochi Project” will be on the exhibit are bleak, given that the region has experienced violence since the 19th century, with increased tensions since the break-up of the Soviet view at the Spanish ambassador’s Union. In fact, instead of showcasing a former residence on 16th Street, Photo: IGnAcIo eVAnGelIStA transformed city, much of the media cover- NW, also known as “FotoWeek age in the lead-up to the Games was nega- Central,” the festival’s headquarters and location for its grand Nov. 7 kick-off tive, focusing instead on Russian violence party. Another highlight of the festival are photo displays from this year’s contest against homosexuals, Islamic terrorist threats and even the euthanization of stray winners.They include works from Eli Meir Kaplan, who won first place in the Spirit of Funk photo contest; Oliver Szeto, who won first place in the Cherry dogs. “Never before have the Olympic Games Blossom photo contest; and Seth Rubin, who won first place in the Spirit of been held in a region that contrasts more DC photo contest. In addition to juried exhibitions, the event also gives the average-Joe-amastrongly with the glamour of the event than Sochi,” van Bruggen writes. “Just 20 teur photographer a chance to show off his craft. “FotoBazaar,” the festival’s kilometers away is the conflict zone second annual, massive, open-call, first-come, first-served photography show, Abkhazia. To the east the Caucasus will again be held in the NoMa (north of Massachusetts Avenue) neighborPhoto: © roB hornStrA / courteSy FlAtlAnd GAllery, APerture/the SochI ProJect, 2013 Mountains stretch into obscure and impov- hood of D.C. Having FotoWeek in D.C. is relevant for many reasons, explained Robinson. erished republics such as North Ossetia and Chechnya. On the coast, old Soviet-era sanatoria stand shoulder-to-shoulder with the most expensive “FotoWeekDC is about the cultural exchange and its relevance to critical topics,” she said.“It has the power to educate, and its proximity to policymakers hotels and clubs of the Russian Riviera.” “Hornstra’s photographic approach combines the best of documentary can’t be ignored.” Before the weather gets too cold and the holidays are upon us, come out storytelling with contemporary portraiture, found photographs and other visual elements collected over the course of their travels,” states “The Sochi for this collage of photographic talent and tastes. There will be something, it Project” website.“Van Bruggen contributes a series of engaging stories about seems, for everyone. the people, the land and its turbulent history. Together, the images and texts unpack the complex, multivalent story of this contested region, shining a Lisa Troshinsky is a contributing writer for The Washington Diplomat.
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November 2014