Rencontres d'Arles 2021: A Guide to France's Biggest Photography Festival

The 2021 edition of the Rencontres d'Arles, France's largest photography festival, opened under new director Christophe Wiesner, former artistic director of Paris Photo. The festival features over twenty exhibitions, half of which were originally scheduled for 2020. Notable shows include a retrospective of Swiss photographer Sabine Weiss, curated by Virginie Chardin, highlighting her humanist photography and diverse career from 1945 to 2007. Charlotte Perriand's use of photomontage for urban critique is explored in a show based on archival research. A powerful exhibition on the Sudanese revolution, curated by Juliette Agnel and Duha Mohammed, documents the 2019 uprising through social media images by a new generation of photographers. 'Africa State of Mind' by Ekow Eshun presents contemporary African photography, while 'The New Black Vanguard' by Antwaun Sargent examines black identity in fashion photography. Jazz Magazine's first twenty years are celebrated, and a major survey on masculinity, curated by Alona Pardo from the Barbican Centre, features 55 artists. Other highlights include Sébastien Lifshitz's show on homosexuality under censorship, Pieter Hugo's portraits, and the interdisciplinary project 'Désidération' by Smith. The festival also marks the opening of the Luma Foundation's tower designed by Frank Gehry, and the election of a new mayor after 19 years of communist rule.