La Gacilly-Baden Photo Festival is the largest outdoor photography festival in Europe. Last year, it welcomed over 480,000 visitors to enjoy the best in lens-based creativity. This year promises an even bigger edition, with 1,500 large-format images that take attendees on a 7 kilometre journey through Baden bei Wien, Austria. Artists explore fundamental issues of biodiversity, environmental pollution and global warming through the lens. The incredible lineup includes internationally acclaimed image-makers, such as 2013 Leica Oskar Barnack Award-winner Evgenia Arbugaeva. There’s also Luca Locatelli, who won the Leica accolade in 2022 and has been honoured by the World press Photo and Sony World Photography Award. Today, we bring you a roundup of creatives from the festival who show us the world through a new lens – from the snowy Russian Arctic to the fire-ravaged landscape of Butte County, California.
Evgenia Arbugaeva | Hyperborea
Hyperborea is a voyage into the endless night of the Russian Arctic, where weeks can pass without a ray of sun. These are also sleepless nights, thanks to the strange lights that caress the sky. Evgenia Arbugaeva’s (b. 1985) series is a tribute to this region. It’s title is drawn from Greek mythology: Boreas (the north wind) and the Hyperboreans (those who live beyond the cold breath of Boreas). Raised in the isolated Siberian port town of Tiksi, the photographer shares a glimpse of the lives of Hyperboreans. In one shot, we meet the guardian of a lighthouse on the Kanine peninsula. Next, there’s Slava, a devout man living in an isolated weather station. Entering the Tchoukotka region, we are introduced to the Indigenous community who maintain their ancestral traditions by living off the land and sea. At the crossroads of documentary and magical realism, Hyperborea shows the fragility and resilience of the Arctic and it’s people.
Luca Locatelli | It’s Already Tomorrow
For centuries, humanity has always united around a common, deep-seated hope: that the future will be better than the present. However, after a century of unprecedented technological leaps, at the dawn of which the greatest upheavals in history rocked the status quo in every field (education, medicine, space travel, food supply, etc.), Western societies broadly find themselves struck by a loss of hope in a better future. Today, technological advances no longer inspire wonder. At best, we are indifferent; at worst, afraid. Faced with this, it’s worth asking the question: What is the difference between progress and innovation? Luca Locatelli’s (b. 1971) It’s Already Tomorrow is a series that addresses this question through real-world scenes – from wind farms to futuristic cityscapes – that look like they’ve been plucked straight out of a sci-fi film. These are thought-provoking images that deal with humanity’s precarious position here on Earth.
In November 2018, California’s deadliest fire ripped through Butte County, destroying 620 sq. km of forest and 13,500 homes over 18 days. In the aftermath of Camp Fire, a total of 85 people died whilst 4 were missing. Three years later, the Dixie Fire wrought more devastation, burning 1,300 homes and killing one firefighter. It took three months to fully extinguish. Photographer Maxime Riché (b. 1982) has returned again and again to the tragedy-stricken community of Butte over the course of his Paradise series. Through infrared film, we striking colours that recall the visual vocabulary of the blazing flames. Most importantly, these images introduces us to the Californians who carry the fear of the next fire in their hearts as they face the task of rebuilding their lives. This exhibit shows the long-term impact of the accelerating climate crisis and severe mismanagement of water resources, which cause forest fires to wreak such devastation.
“Photography has the power to tell a story in a single frame, to let our imagination run free, to inspire dreams, and to challenge us too. In that sense, our creativity perpetuates our vision of the art.“ This reflection comes from Lucas Lenci (b. 1980), whose practice revolves around unmasking the very nature of the medium. Each shot is an experimentation that strives to go beyond the illusory appearance of images. In this exhibition, titled Space-Times, he presents three different photographic essays. In one shot, we see the foggy grey of a cityscape framed by tropical trees that grow in from the edges of the frame. Elsewhere, Lenci stacks four rows of road show on top of each other with grid lines in the background. Over the top, commuters are frozen in time as they cycle and walk across the scene. Each project requires reinvention. It’s an opportunity to take a new approach and find more creative ways to convey his thoughts.
La Gacilly-Baden Photo Festival | Until 15 October
festival-lagacilly-baden.photo
Image Credits:
- Paradise © Maxime Riché.
- Hyperborea © Evgenia Arbugaeva.
- Es ist bereits © Morgen Luca Locatelli.
- Paradise © Maxime Riché.
- Raum-Zeit © Lucas Lenci.
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