Les Photaumnales 2016 Explores Love Through Photography

The 13th edition of the Photaumnales festival in Beauvais, France, centers on the theme of love, with the main exhibition 'Love Stories' curated by Paul Ardenne and Barbara Polla. The show opens with a fiery declaration by Robert Montgomery, who calls love a 'revolutionary energy.' It features works by over a dozen artists examining love's facets: Adriana Lestido's series on mother-daughter relationships, Sandra Hoyn's 'Jenny's Soul' documenting a man's love for a silicone doll, Olivier Rebufa and Mathilde Troussard's use of Barbie and Ken figures, and mounir fatmi's 'Casablanca Circles' overlaying mathematical diagrams on film kisses. Anders Petersen presents a grid of intensely personal black-and-white photographs, while Kiah Reading and Pamela Arce's 'In Each Other's Lectures' compiles found portraits as an obsessive proof of love. The festival also includes partner exhibitions: 'Love Hong Kong' showcases nine photographers from three generations, including Ho Fan, Lau Ching Ping, Vincent Yu (documenting 'McRefugees'), and Dan Leung. Bertrand Stofleth's residency project 'Aeropolis (2014-16)' explores aviation's impact on the Beauvais region, referencing the 1922 mid-air collision near Beauvais. The festival runs in Beauvais and the surrounding region.