The Rencontres d’Arles international photography festival returns to the City of Arles in Provence, Southern France for its 47th edition from July 4 to September 25, 2016. This year’s program includes more than 40 exhibitions showcasing the work of 137 artists, offering a general survey of contemporary photographic creation and practice.

Sam Stourdzé, director of the festival, describes the annual event as “an observatory of artistic practices” which plays an active role in “revealing trends and talents.”

Beside reexamining the history of street photography in its ‘Street’ section, or looking at new approaches to documentary photography  in ‘Platforms of the Visible’ , the festival is also receptive to the world and sets its sights on other places with.

In ‘Africa Pop’ talented photographers and curators showcase an unexpected, surprising, funny, pop Africa at the 47th Rencontres. Aida Muluneh, the artistic director of Addis Foto Fest—the Addis Ababa photo festival—joins the Discovery Award nominating team and defends the work of Sarah Waiswa and Nader Adem. Through works by approximately 10 artists, Azu Nwagbogu, director of the LagosPhoto festival, looks into the Nollywood film studios’ influence on African photography with the Tear My Bra exhibition. In Maud Sulter‘s photomontages, however, African and European cutures collide. Lastly, Richard Minier, Thomas Mondo and Madé Taounza tell us the amazing story of Las Maravillas in the exhibition ‘Swinging Bamako’. The Malian music group becomes a wonderful pretext to revisit the swinging ambiance of 1960s Bamako immortalised by the great Malick Sidibé.

Other exhibitions examine subjects ranging from Westerns and monsters, whether in Japanese cinema or from outer space, to a historical look at playing with gender and the theme of errors and re-interpretations.

This edition of the festival also pays homage to Charlie Hebdo through a look at the cover images of the French monthly magazine Hara Kiri, which for some time also had a weekly edition, which was renamed Charlie Hebdo when the former was banned.

Dedicated to the late writer Michel Tournier, one of the founders of the Rencontres d’Arles, who passed away earlier this year, the 47th edition pays homage to the energy and purpose of Les Rencontres as it was envisaged back in 1970.

In addition to the numerous exhibitions several workshops will also be held throughout the summer. The festival will be on until 25 September.

For more, visit www.rencontres-arles.com.