Meet Krista Svalbonas – solo artist 2022 under the Framing Vision category
"I think there's an importance to this work right now, especially since history is repeating. We are seeing the war in Ukraine, which kinds of mirrors this story as well."
The Baltic-American artist Krista Svalbonas is the woman behind the exhibition "Displacement" which won this year's open-call in the category Framing Vision and which is the amazing, thought provoking and scarily relevant result of an intensive research process into the history of her family's Baltic roots. Her parents fled the Russian regime after World War II and Svalbonas project excavates this history.
We were happy to have the chance to meet and interview Krista when she was visiting the festival for the install and opening last weekend.
Svalbonas' laser-cut photographs can be experienced at the festival until this Sunday, so don't hesitate to stop by!
Video credit: Sonia Tomegros Regalado
Meet Alexandra Rose Howland – solo artist 2022 under the Framing Society category
"With my work I'm trying to relook at things that we've already seen before, and to rephotograph them in a way that challenges our perspective and challenges the narrative that we've already formed in our minds about these locations."
Alexandra Rose Howland (US/UK) has spent the last decade living in the Middle East. Throughout this time, Howland became aware that what a foreigner views and photographs does not always embody the lived reality of locals, and Howland began asking to download first-person accounts; from selfies to family photos, to Snapchats. The resulting Leave and Let Us Go is an intimate and multi-dimensional portrait of Irak and Iraqis that returns the narrative power of an often-misunderstood country to its own citizens.
We were happy to have the chance to meet and interview Alexandra when she was visiting the festival for the install and opening. You can experience Alexandra's work at the festival until tomorrow evening, so don't hesitate to stop by the Festival Center this weekend!
Video credit: Sonia Tomegros Regalado
Meet Hien Hoang - solo artist 2022 under the Framing Identity category
"I want to talk about the clichés and stereotypes about Asian people in the West using food as the output. I think food is a very powerful medium, and it says a lot about our country, our heritage, our identity, our memories."
Meet Hien Hoang! The artist behind the Festival Center exhibition 'Asia Bistro – Made in Rice'.
The Vietnamese artist won our open call in the Framing Identity category this year with her project. We were very happy to have her here for the opening of the exhibition at Refshaleøen last week. Here she gives an introduction to herself and her amazing exhibition, work and practice!
Hien's exhibition is open until June 12 at the Festival Center.
Video credit: Sonia Tomegros Regalado
Let's Celebrate Photography Together
Join us for a festive afternoon to celebrate the opening of Copenhagen Photo Festival 2022!
We invite you to celebrate the grand opening of this year’s festival at our Festival Center FRAME on Refshaleøen and celebrate the beginning of our 12th festival 2 June from 5 to 8 pm. With a host of exhibitions expanding our knowledge on photography as the main attraction, we hope you want to join us for an evening brimming with great photography, people, talks, music and drinks in the afternoon sun!
Meet the international solo artists
The Grand Opening is a chance for you to meet our three solo artists, Hien Hoang, Alexandra Rose Howland and Krista Svalbonas. Also the Ukrainian artist Olena Morozova presenting her project 'Granny' will visit the opening as well as many of our partners from the Festival Partner Venues and the many creative, dedicated people from the Danish and international photo scene.
Explore the exhibitions
At the opening we invite you to explore the nine exhibitions presented at the Festival Center. This year we will host two exhibitions presented by Odesa Photo Festival as well as exhibitions by our three open call winners. But we also host the exhibition Inside-Out curated by TOFU collective, the group exhibition A Female Gaze curated by Norwegian artist Charlotte Wiig, selected works by three talents from DMJX school of photography and of course our five Futures Nordic Talents Oscar Scott Carl, Inuuteq Stork, Tine Bek, Iben Gad og Luna Scales.
Beer from Schwesterbrau and Music by DJ Shymon
The micro brewery Schwesterbrau established by two engaged sisters from Aarhus will provide cold beer for the opening and DJ SHYMON will set the musical tone from 5-8 pm.
The event is free and open for everyone – come join us for art meetings, drinks, talks and enjoyment!
Female art photographers take center stage
On June 2.-12. 2022, Copenhagen Photo Festival, which is the largest photo festival in the Nordic region,
opens up for reflection and play with the boundaries of photography in collaboration with galleries,
museums and cultural actors in Copenhagen and Scania. The festival center is located at the artificial island
Refshaleøen in Copenhagen, where three international female art photographers are among the highlights.
With humor, diversity, and artistic finesse, they portray new aspects of common narratives of the media,
society and history through the art of photography.
On 2-12 June Copenhagen Photo Festival will for the 12th time open all over Copenhagen with three
international women's lens-based art in focus. Hien Hoang, Alexandra Rose Howland and Krista Svalbonas
won the Copenhagen Photo Festival's open call, and will exhibit at the festival center on Refshaleøen. Each
of the artists blurs the boundaries between documentation and art, leaving a personal and highly topical
impression.
Stereotypes, conflict zones and a highly topical depiction of escape
Vietnamese Hien Hoang won in the category Framing Identity with the project ‘Asia Bistro - Made in Rice’. In
her works, she confronts us with classic notions of Asian culture. In the Framing Society category, the
Anglo-American artist Alexandra Rose Howland won for the project ‘Leave and Let Us Go’. Through collages
of everyday images collected from the inhabitants of Mosul, she strives to unfold a more nuanced and
diverse image of the war-torn region, which is often only known through the media coverage.
American-Latvian-Lithuanian Krista Svalbonas won in the category Framing Vision, which honors an
aesthetic visionary project. With ‘Displacement’, she explores the history of her parents and grandparents.
After Russia's invasion of the Baltic countries in the 1940s, they were driven into exile and housed in camps
for displaced people in Germany. The project illustrates the unfortunate story of displaced people for whom the idea of "home" is undermined by political agendas beyond their control. The war in Ukraine puts her
historically investigative works in a frighteningly contemporary perspective.
The festival gathers Danish photography and puts a long-term focus on talents
In addition to the three solo exhibitions, this year’s festival highlights emerging talents and leading Danish
photographers. According to Managing director Maja Dyrehauge Gregersen, it is important that the festival
shows the audience the quality and diversity that the Danish photo scene has to offer.
“Copenhagen Photo Festival is the natural gathering place for leading actors within Danish photography. I
am particularly proud that this year’s festival presents many internationally oriented and entrepreneurial
actors from the Danish photo and art scene. Amongst other, there will be exhibitions, a market for photo
books, and activities from the Photojournalist education at DMJX, TOFU Collective, Fotogodsbanen from
Århus, PhotoScope from Hillerød, Blankt Papir Press and many more”, says Maja Dyrehauge Gregersen.
Another central part of the festival's work is to lift the Danish talent pool. At the festival, you can therefore
once again experience Futures Nordic Talents, which presents the five photographers Iben Gad, Inuuteq
Storch, Luna Scales, Oscar Scott Carl and Tine Bek. The Futures Nordic Talents initiative is a talent program
that helps accentuate emerging Danish photographers. It is supported by the EU's cultural support program
Creative Europe and runs until 2024.
Activities for photo enthusiasts throughout Copenhagen
At the festival site at Refshaleøen, you can look forward to a sharp program of workshops, talks, music and
guided tours, which will be held throughout the festival period. Here you can learn more about
photography, play with the media's tools or just enjoy the festival atmosphere. There is also ample
opportunity to experience the photographic media unfold throughout many of the art galleries, museums,
and cultural institutions across Greater Copenhagen, for example at Fotografisk Center, Martin Asbæk
Gallery, Alice Folker Gallery, NW Gallery, Banja Rathnov Gallery and Clausens Kunsthandel, together with
Det Grønlandske Hus, Landskrona Foto og Galleri Format in Malmö amongst others. Copenhagen Photo
Festival 2022 is currently supported by the City of Copenhagen, Det Obelske Familiefond and Creative
Europe – the EU's cultural support program.
****
About Copenhagen Photo Festival
On 2-12 June 2022, the Nordic region's largest photo festival kicks off for the 12th time. The festival is held
in close collaboration with galleries, museums and cultural institutions in Copenhagen and southern
Sweden. Every year established and budding Danish and foreign photographers contribute, and the festival
is visited by approximately 55.000 people. The festival puts photography on the agenda under the three
main pillars Framing Identity, Framing Society and Framing Vision through exhibitions, workshops, talks,
portfolio reviews and social events.