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.
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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.