F/STOP Leipzig-International Festival for Contemporary Photography

SO! Lately, I have been really busy house hunting for Stockholm, but in the meantime I had the chance to volunteer at the F/STOP Photography Festival a week ago. It was absolutely AMAZING!!! :) Many international artists have been invited, exhibited and discussed amongst high-ranking artists from Leipzig and the Academy of Visual Arts (HGB Leipzig).

There were three major themes running through the shows: the first one was called 'Closer: Vicinity and Distance in Contemporary Photography.' Themes ranged from abandoned items left in the streets of New York City, symbolizing a potential threat to health and safety to portraits of skinny and nerdy looking young people who were beautiful, but also looked like they needed therapy. ;) I best liked the series of the Leipzig based Photographer Anna K.O., 'Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man'. She took portraits of fellow students at the Leipzig Academy of Visual Arts (HGB). Her direct way of stabling contact with her fellow students asks questions about interpersonal grievances and the division of society and the individual. 

Another thread was called 'Invited' and covered National and International Invited Shows. 

These images adressed very relevant and partially shocking themes, such as the exhibition 'Soul Stealer', which deals with young people in China who move to the cities and abandon their tradition of rice-farming, which might hence die out. Most appalling I found the portraits of 'albino' people, when I found out that there is a literal man-hunt in South Africa at the moment, since these people are supposed to have certain organs that are like aphrodisiac. I couldn't believe it! How cruel. I wonder what kind of people are capable of doing such things. Well, without empathy, anything is possible. I wonder, why do these people not use super foods such as maca powder for their libido. If they are in need of stimulation, at least they should not do it at the cost of other living beings, no matter if animal or human!

The last major theme was called 'Fallen', which has various meanings in Germany, such as falling, obviously, but also traps. Many of these pictures were rather funny and had a humorous approach, but one artist, Daniel Schumann, portrayed a lady in a hospice. The series was called Living While Dying, and the woman sitting in her chair observes people coming and going, while she has been there for more than a year now, just remaining in her chair, eyes wide open.