Luz Austral Foundation, Argentina, welcomes the return of The Encuentros Abiertos: Festival de La Luz – a celebration of international photography that lasts a duration of two months. Since 1989, the festival has taken place biennially, exhibiting collections in various art spaces and museums across the country.
In 2016 the festival comprises 62 venues from 25 cities across the country, and 110 exhibitions from more than 300 artists from 26 countries, with the dual aim of spreading Argentinian photography to the world, and also welcoming artists from abroad. The event holds an ethos based upon creating international bonds, and has created a new hub for photographers from all around the world, demonstrating the importance of unity in the arts and a celebration of diversity. This year’s edition works along the same line, bringing important exhibitions from various countries under the theme of “Traces of Unreality.”
One of the artists involved in the festival is Alicia Savage, who featured in Issue 70 of Aesthetica Magazine. Exhibiting her series, Destinations, at the festival, the photographer examines through her works the connection between physical reality and the strong presence of our emotions. As fantasy becomes entangled with everyday events it becomes increasingly difficult to determine the boundaries between imagination and the real journeys we take.
In her latest portfolio Savage documents her solo road trips through rural destinations of the USA and Canada – expressing the notion that our thoughts encourage the growth of internal identities. As the festival invites photographers to express their creativity in a confrontation of existing trends, the presence of Savage’s collection at the 2016 event does so by challenging conformity and normality through her boundary-pushing frames and surreal representations of the self.
Festival de la Luz runs from until 30 September. Find out more about the event: www.festivaldelaluz.es
See more of Savage’s works in Issue 70: www.aestheticamagazine.com
Credits:
1. Alicia Savage, Lamp Girl (2012). Title by Alicia Savage.
