Alliance Française Photo Contest Opens Enrollments in Rio de Janeiro

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – Enrollment for the “Alliance Française Prix Photo”, which celebrates its tenth anniversary, will start on February 10th. This year, the Alliance Française’s national photography competition is entitled “Reflections” and proposes a reinterpretation of the essence of photography in light of the transformations of the contemporary world and current challenges.

The contest will offer the first placed photographer a trip to Paris with a companion. The first three placed winners will also take part in a group exhibition at the Gallery of the Alliance Française in Botafogo.

Enrollment will be open until 11:59 PM on April 10th through the website www.prixphotoaf.com.br. The contest is organized by the Alliance Française do Brasil network, in partnership with Air France and Santa Teresa Hotel, and is open to professional and amateur photographers, over 18 years of age, of any nationality, provided they are residents in Brazil, and present original or experimental, abstract or documentary artistic proposals. Award winning photos in other contests will not be eligible.

The second placed photographer will win a weekend for two people at the Santa Teresa Hotel RJM Gallery and the winner of the popular jury award will be granted a one-semester scholarship at the Alliance Française. The contest has the cultural support of Foto Rio, one of the most important photography festivals in South America, among other institutions.

According to information from the Alliance Française do Rio’s press office, after filling out the enrollment form online, participants should also send a series of ten color or black and white photographs, under the topic “Reflections”, illustrated by a photograph from the series “Terra d’Agua”, by French photographer Benoît Fournier, winner of the 2013 edition. Photos may be manipulated or otherwise and must not exceed 2MB in size, in JPG format, and produced using analog equipment (camera of any format, pinhole or other technique) or digital.

Reflections

The theme “Reflections” of the tenth edition of the “Alliance Française Prix Photo” was inspired by the work of photographer Benoît Fournier and highlights that reflection has been at the core of photography since its invention in the 19th century, when capturing the reflection of light under a surface was required to produce a photo.

Even after the advent of digital cameras and ‘smartphones’, photography is still made of reflections. And in the current global coronavirus pandemic time, it continues to be an important tool not only to portray, but above all to expose the impacts of the pandemic on societies and their relationships.

Last year, under the theme Frontiers, the contest hosted over 200 collections of participant submissions. The winner of the official jury in 2019 was Osmar Gonçalves dos Reis Filho, from Ceará, with the series “A Sobrevivência dos Vagalumes” (The Survival of Fireflies). Second placed was Kitty Paranaguá, from Rio de Janeiro, with the series “Tempo Presente” (Present Time).

The popular jury award was bestowed on Giuliana Mota de Mesquita, from Nova Friburgo (RJ), for her essay “Olhar Fronteiriço” (Border Gaze). The essay “Favelicidade”, by Luiz Baltar (RJ), was also awarded an honorable mention. Due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the 9th edition of Alliance Française Prix Photo exhibited its winners in a virtual interactive format, available at www.prixphotoaf.com.br.

The 10th Alliance Française Prix Photo jury is composed of Benoit Capponi, photographer, founder and board member of the French magazine Halogénure, focused on analog photography and experimental processes; Erika Negrel, general secretary of the Réseau Diagonal, a network linking photographic exhibition, practice and production sites in France; Erika Tambke, photographer member of the FotoRio 2020 coordination team and coordinator of the Week of Visual Occupation/FotoRio since 2019; Eugênio Sávio, photography and photojournalism professor, photographer in the editorial area and organizer of the Tiradentes Photography Festival; João Kulcsár, professor, author and curator of photographic exhibitions; Marina Alves, photographer and social scientist, photography professor and member of the Women’s Commission organizer of the FotoRio 2018 Festival; and Nicolas Henry, French photographer, organizer of the PhotoClimat festival.

In the nine past editions, 35 photographers were awarded, said Quentin Richard, the new cultural director of the Alliance Française du Rio de Janeiro. Also cultural coordinator of the Alliances in Brazil, Quentin Richard disclosed that he intends to bring innovation to the work developed by the institution, reinforcing its vocation as a bilateral cultural and artistic production space. “For us it is important to imagine the co-creation between French and Brazilian artists and, in this way, favor the cultural bonds of the two countries”.

According to Richard, the important aspect is that there should be a blending, an exchange, between the two cultures. It is also the cultural director’s plan to promote artistic residencies in Brazil, “to imagine joint cultural creations”. In addition to virtual initiatives, Quentin Richard is also thinking of organizing in-person events that ensure the safe presence of the public, with well-defined health criteria and a reduced number of people, for as long as the novel coronavirus pandemic lasts. The Alliance Française has been present in Brazil for 135 years.