“Dear Photographers, let’s stop and think,” writes Jean-François Leroy, director general of Visa Pour l’Image in his introduction to the international festival of photojournalism. He goes on to urge photographers to properly edit their work, and their writing – ending: “In these turbulent times, photojournalists are obviously needed, and play an essential role which is now more important than ever. Yes, we need you, so please do not let us down.”
Leroy co-founded the festival in 1989, another turbulent time, along with Jean Lelièvre and supported by Paris Match‘s Roger Thérond; incredibly, he’s now heading up the festival as it returns to Perpignan for the 29th time from 02 – 17 September. The exhibitions include work by Lu Guang on pollution in China, by Isadora Kosofsky on American juveniles in prison, by Alvaro Canovas on the retaking of Mosul, and the last showing of the 2017 World Press Photo show.
The Pro Week is from 04 – 09 September, and includes evening projections, a portfolio review and several talks and round tables. It also includes the presentation of several awards – including the Canon Female Photojournalist Award 2017, the prize for which is €8000 to create a new project to be shown at the next Visa.
Diane Smyth is a freelance journalist who contributes to publications such as The Guardian, The Observer, The FT Weekend Magazine, Creative Review, The Calvert Journal, Aperture, FOAM, IMA, Aesthetica and Apollo Magazine. Prior to going freelance, she wrote and edited at BJP for 15 years. She has also curated exhibitions for institutions such as The Photographers Gallery and Lianzhou Foto Festival. You can follow her on instagram @dismy
