In July, Polish photography hit the road and visit France. During prestigious festival Arles 2016 Les Rencontres de la Photographie will be presented the portfolios of Diana Lelonek, Piotr Zbierski, Łukasz Filak, Adam Lach, Wiktoria Wojciechowska and the Sputnik Photos collective.

PhotoPoland is a project aimed at international audience, curators, gallery owners, employees of cultural institutions and organizers of photographic events all over the world, but most of all at all the people interested in becoming acquainted with the works of Polish photographers. Each edition of the project has a different form, adapted to the possibilities of its presentation. What remains constant is the effort to promote Polish photography and to make Polish artists known outside their country.

Its first edition was organized in May 2007. Representatives of various festivals and institutions dealing with photography from Spain, Brazil, USA, Mexico, Russia, Greece, Israel and Great Britain met during the International Festival of Photography in Lodz. They spent two days analyzing portfolios and talking to 15 Polish artists. The outcome of these meetings was a series of exhibitions of 7 of these photographers – Nicolas Grospierre, Przemysław Pokrycki, Konrad Pustoła, Szymon Rogiński, Asia Zastróżna, and the duo of Weronika Łodzińska and Andrzej Kramarz – presented in galleries and exhibitions all around the world.

The main element of this year’s edition is the publication presenting the portfolios of Diana Lelonek, Piotr Zbierski, Łukasz Filak, Adam Lach, Wiktoria Wojciechowska and the Sputnik Photos collective. The selection of artists for the publication was preceded by nominations awarded by Polish curators, gallery owners, writers specializing in photography and representatives of photographic festivals and institutions. The final six were selected from among the nominees by the jury, comprising Erik Kessels, Sayaka Takashi, Lars Willumeit, Simon Karlstetter and Peggy Sue Amison.

The publication is prepared as part of the Polish Paradise event, which forms a part of the official programme of Cosmos Arles Books, a space devoted to photobooks within one of the most significant photographic events, Rencontres d’Arles. At the same time we do hope that its range will exceed that event and reach institutions and audiences all over the world.

The PhotoPoland 2016 project is co-organized by Fotofestiwal and Culture.pl.

Its partners are the TIFF Festival, Krakow Photomonth Festival and European Capital of Culture Wrocław 2016.