François Hébel is a distinguished photography curator. Director of ‘Les Rencontres Arles Photographie’ Festival, France, from 2001 to 2014, he is now director of the Foto Industrie Bologna Biennale, and is also overseeing the creation of the new Caribbean Image festival in Pointe-à-Pitre, Guadeloupe.
France –
Francois Hebel, one of the most influential man in photography today boasts of a prolific career, spanning 12 years from 2001, to the present as the director of ‘Les Rencontres Arles Photographie’ Festival in France. Having already directed the festival once in 1986-87, Francois returned to Arles bringing about many significant & effective changes and continues to diligently do so even today. In a lighthearted conversation with EMAHO, Francois spills the beans on this year’s radical B&W photography theme, photographic innovations, his personal journey so far and the overall Asian participation in Arles.
Manik : What is the vision behind the B&W theme for this year and where will the colour balance be coming from?
Francois : First of all one has to check what happened to B&W in the past 30 years. Some years ago colour was regarded as something only commercial, not really serious. Then in the 90’s, via the contemporary art field, colour photography became more popular. With digital coming in 2000, it seems photography is now colour. There is no more shame to be an artist, photographer and use colour. In fact it’s B&W which has disappeared. So I followed that kind of thread and found very interesting works, whether they were works of the past revisited or whether it is new stuff. It is a B& W programme which is very different from what it would have been 30 years ago. It’s very stimulating.
Asya, portrait of a woman. Now 22 with the face of an angel, she was carried off and raped at the age of 14. A man entered the family house while she was alone, threw a bag over her head, and hurriedly put her in the car where his accomplices were wainting. He kept her for a few days. He married with her. Chechen traditions allow a man to kidnap the woman he wants to marry, with or without her consent. After the birth of their child, her husband became jealous,, drinking and beating her. She escaped to her sister in Grozny. She decided to become a nurse. After graduating from nursing school she met her second husband. She became a fighting nurse.
