Maltese photographs on show in France

Photographs by Alexandra Pace, Patrick Fenech and Gilbert Calleja are representing Malta at two events in France.

The works are on display at the European Night and the Café De L'Europe Exhibition - European Photographic Identities which opened on July 9 as part of the Rencontres De La Photographie d'Arles, an annual celebration of top contemporary artistic photography organised within the context of The Season of European Culture in France.

The European Night and Café De L'Europe Exhibition present a wide panorama of contemporary photographic works by some of the most cutting-edge photographers from the 27 member states of the European Union.

In agreement with Cultures France, the Maltese Embassy in Paris, the French Embassy in Malta, the Cultural Contact Point in Malta and the Malta Council for Culture and the Arts, artist Vince Briffa was invited to curate the Maltese participation that was projected onto large screens on the opening night at the Parc Des Ateliers, a former railway industrial area in Arles. The Maltese exhibits will also feature at the Grande Halle of the Parc until September 14.

In order to present a plural vision of European photographic creation, the curator and artistes were given a free hand on the topics of the works chosen.

Three very distinct photographic themes were chosen by Mr Briffa, with each collection of works comprising thematic homogeneity, revealing the artists' professional commitment to the fostering of a strong intellectual idiom in local photography and affirming contemporary artistic concerns within a wider international context.