PHOTO 2022 International Festival of Photography

Overview

Australia's largest photography biennale festival is back in Melbourne with PHOTO 2022 International Festival of Photography, this time with a new theme: Being Human.

After the success of PHOTO 2021, the PHOTO festival returns to Melbourne and regional Victoria with various exhibits and events from Friday, April 29 to Sunday, May 22. The festival will encompass 90 exhibitions from 123 local and international artists, with 50 world premieres including 24 specially commissioned projects.

The festival will feature work from a diverse group of local and international photographers — spanning from Vasantha Yogananthan's After Life, which depicts the millenia-old story of the Ramayana through contemporary bodies, to Kenyan photographer Thandiwe Muriu's specially commissioned study of culture, identity and self love in her reinterpretation of contemporary African portraiture.

Exhibitions featured in the festival will be focused in Five Festival precincts: Town Hall Precinct, Parliament Precinct, River Precinct, State Library Precinct, and Fitzroy/Collingwood as well as other galleries and venues around Victoria. Exhibitions will explore themes including mortality, self, history, society and nature.

In addition to contemporary artists, two photography icons — Helmut Newton and Cindy Sherman — will be honoured with exhibitions across the duration of the festival. Helmut Newton: In Focus, presented by the Jewish Museum of Australia: Gandel Centre of Judaica and the Helmut Newton foundation, will focus on the life of the world-famous fashion photographer. A photograph by American photographer Cindy Sherman will be celebrated with the festival's largest individual work to date.

Entry to the festival is free, with the exception of the Helmut Newton: In Focus exhibit which is $20 per adult. Tours are $10, and collector tours are $65.

Photo: Helmut Newton, Elsa Peretti, New York, 1975, Copyright Helmut Newton Estate, Courtesy Helmut Newton Foundation. Banner Photo: Thandiwe Muriu, Camo 34, 2022. Commissioned by Photo Australia and MetroTunnel Creative Program for PHOTO 2022 International Festival of Photography. Courtesy of the artist and 193 Gallery.