The inaugural PHOTO 2021 International Festival of Photography will take place in Melbourne and across regional Victoria from 18 February to 7 March 2021.
Originally conceived as PHOTO 2020, the festival was rescheduled in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. The re-scheduled festival is set to be Australia’s largest and most significant photography event with indoor and outdoor sites in Melbourne, free exhibitions across Victoria, and an extensive public program. Working with cultural and academic partners, Artistic Director Elias Redstone and the PHOTO 2021 team have created a new festival that celebrates photography as an art form as well as providing critical support to artists. More than 30 Australian and international artists have been commissioned to create new work, with a number of exhibitions specially curated in response to the Festival theme, ‘The Truth’.
Running alongside these exhibitions, PHOTO 2021 is presenting PHOTO LIVE, a series of live streamed conversations with PHOTO 2021 artists about the social and cultural role photography plays in our lives, addressing a range of issues from identity and belonging to human rights and social justice. The next season of PHOTO LIVE launches on 13 July 2020, featuring Dana Scruggs (USA), Stephen Tayo (Nigeria), Quil Lemons (USA), Tashara Roberts (Dja Dja Wurrung/Yorta Yorta – Australia), Paola Balla (Wemba Wemba/Gunditjmara – Australia), Ann Shelton (New Zealand), Amanda Williams (Australia), Rosa Menkman (The Netherlands) and QueerTech.io (Australia).
The full PHOTO 2021 program will be released later this year. Click here for details of exhibitions and events plus more information about PHOTO 2021 and PHOTO LIVE. You can also follow the festival on social media @photofestivalau.
