Each Winter, Jimei x Arles shows 8 exhibitions coming from Rencontres d’Arles alongside 20 Chinese and Asian photography exhibitions. The festival also promotes Chinese talents on an international scale, with its Discovery Award, shown in Arles every year.
It was created in 2015 by Sam Stourdzé, then director of Rencontres d’Arles, and Chinese photographer RongRong, founder of China’s first photography museum, Three Shadows Photography Art Centre (Beijing and Xiamen), with the support of Xiamen’s Jimei District.
As a cross-cultural platform, Jimei x Arles introduces the work of major international photographers to Chinese audiences (René Burri, Joel Meyerowitz, William Wegman, Toilet Paper, Paolo Woods…) and promotes Young Chinese Photography (Feng Li, Pixy Liao, Luo Yang, Lei Lei…) on an international level through its two awards (Discovery Award and Women Photographers Award).
The festival also acts as a regional hub with its yearly focus on the photographic scene from a guest country in Asia (India, South Korea, Indonesia, Japan…).
Bérénice Angremy and Victoria Jonathan have acted as directors of Jimei x Arles from 2017 to 2019, while Doors was in charge of the organization of the festival, assuming its art direction, production (30 exhibitions per year), communication (online & offline), press relations & social media management, sponsors & partnerships, public programming.
From 2017 to 2019, Jimei x Arles hosted 100 exhibitions showcasing the work of almost 400 artists, attracting a total of 215,000 visitors.
During their time at Jimei x Arles, Doors created the first award dedicated to women photographers in China (Jimei x Arles Women Photographers Award) and a platform to highlight Asian contemporary photography, initiating collaborations with major artists and institutions from India, South Korea and Indonesia. Doors also reinforced the media and partnership strategy of the festival (generating more than 1,500 media clippings).
Wang Wusheng, "Mount Huangshan A104 W49", 1984. Courtesy of the artist and Three Shadows + 3 Gallery.
Cai Dongdong, "Landscape #1", 2015. Courtesy of the artist.
Sun Yanchu, "Eye of the Leopard". De la série de "Ficciones", 2014. Avec l'autorisation de l’artiste.
René Burri, "Egypt, Saquara Near Cairo, First Pyramid Known to Man", 1962. Courtesy of the artist / Magnum Photos / René Burri Foundation / Musée de l’Élysée.
Tom Wood, "Great Homer Street Market", Liverpool, 1991. Courtesy of the artist and Galerie Sit Down.
Guy Le Querrec, "Bao Guang Temple", Xindu (Sichuan), 27 April 1984. Courtesy of the artist and Magnum.
Michael Bühler-Rose, "Chandra and Kalyani", Gainesville, FL,"Constructing the Exotic" series, 2007. Courtesy of the artist and the Museum of Art and Photography (MAP), Bangalore.
Exhibition view, Ruben Lundgren, "Anything That Walks", Jimei x Arles 2017.
Emmanuel and Brigitte Macron at UCCA for Jimei x Arles 2018.
Exhibition tour, Jimei x Arles 2018.
Exhibition view, Luo Yang, "Youth", Jimei x Arles 2019.
