The works from over 200 photographers from across the globe are on display at FotoFreo 2008 – The City of Fremantle Festival of Photography . Said to be the southern hemisphere's premier photographic festival, FotoFreo 2008 has more than tripled in size since the inaugural festival in 2002 through the support of dedicated volunteers and the expansion of collaborations with arts organisations, galleries and other exhibition spaces.
A biennial event, this year's festival boasts 84 exhibitions as well as digital projections of 40 photographers and another 55 exhibitions in the FotoFreo Perth and Fringe exhibitions at venues around Fremantle and Perth. Other events, including a conference and workshops, are aimed at creating an environment for education, collaboration and growth in the world of photography.
A new body of work entitled Australian Minescapes by Canadian photographer Edward Burtynsky, recognised as one of the world's leading contemporary landscape photographers, was commissioned for the festival with the support of BHP Billiton Iron Ore. The large-scale works centre around the paradoxical beauty of man-made landscapes or "manufactured landscapes" as referred to by the artist. Examining from above quarries, mine sites and other industrial landscapes in the eastern goldfields of Western Australia and the Pilbara region, the photographic series exposes gaping craters and deep veins etched into previously barren land through intriguing compositions of colour and line.
Also featured are a series of photos from Lebanon, Haiti, Afghanistan and the funeral of Pope John Paul II entitled As I Was Dying by multi-award winning Roman photographer Paolo Pellegrin.
"When I do my work and I am exposed to the suffering of others – their loss or at times, their death – I feel I am serving as a witness; that is my role and responsibility to create a record for our collective memory. Part of this, I believe, has to do with notions of accountability," says Mr Pellegrin.
"Perhaps it is only in their moment of suffering that these people will be noticed and noticing erases our excuse of saying one day that we did not know. But I also feel that it is in this very delicate and fragile space that surrounds death, the space that I sometimes have both the privilege and the burden of entering, there exists the possibility of an encounter with the other in a way that goes beyond words and culture and differences."
Both Edward Burtynsky's and Paolo Pellegrin's works are on display at the Western Australian Maritime Museum on Victoria Quay.
"We expect an increasing number of visitors from interstate and overseas [due to] the further development of an educational component and the number of fringe exhibitions," Festival Chairman Bob Hewitt told The Epoch Times . Considering Western Australia's geographical position and growing contribution as a cultural centre, the board of FotoFreo is looking towards the Festival as an increasing cultural link between Asia and Europe.
FotoFreo 2008 – The City of Fremantle Festival of Photography is showing until May 4, 2008.
Paolo Pellegrin quotes from fotofreo.com.
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