Charlottesville enjoys creative license with its “splendid isolation,” and talent appears to be responsive to, if not appreciative of, its myriad cultural niches. Robert Duvall and Morgan Freeman presented films and attended parties at the Virginia Film Festival, and Doug Marlette headlined the Virginia Festival of the Book; moreover, Charlottesville and the University claim a Chamber Music Festival, Festival of Culture, Salmagundi Film Festival, and Springfest. This is the short list. Charlottesville’s “fests” lie somewhere between Burning Man and SXSW in terms of price to attend, celeb sightings, airport access, and hotel shower pressure at 10 a.m. on festival opening day, and we love it for that. To CVillains, a festival celebrating the photograph is as desirable as it is inevitable.
Look3, the Festival of the Photograph, debuts June 7-9. Most tickets are sold out; however, I highly recommend visiting participating local galleries to take in ongoing exhibits: William Albert Allard, featured at Les Yeux du Monde Gallery, Sally Mann at Second Street Gallery, and Eugene Richards at McGuffey Art Center. I’ve seen two of these exhibits and was floored; I’ve also enjoyed the show “Leather Family” at Club 216, on breaks from the dance floor. I’ll look forward to taking in the rest throughout the month.
Look3 has already turned heads: Nick Nichols’ enlarged (ahem) nature photography was deemed by some parents to be too graphic for young eyes. As any talented festival programmer would tell you, a little pre-festival controversy is an asset! I applaud the festival programmers for taking a walk on the wild side, and I look forward to the rest of the weekend’s events.
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Tagged as: Albemarle County, Charlottesville, Events
Those big animal pictures scare me.
Hi,
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Chrysanthe
Neighbor Liaison, outside.in
(chrysanthe@outside.in)
Damn, there are a lot of people walking around the mall today with very expensive cameras.
I’ve now seen all of the public exhibits. Please take even an hour this weekend to walk through Les Yeux du Monde, McGuffey, and Yourspace. They are within four blocks of each other, so it’s not difficult to do. One of Allard’s photos moved me to tears. Rich in color and texture, the photos, for me, framed intangibles like “youth” or “community” or “attraction” for what they really are, not what western culture likes them to look like. I’m tired of seeing babies sitting in flowerpots with tulip hats. I loved a shot of a little Amish girl in sunglasses, grinning, wearing new too-big shoes at a small Montana town gathering. It just felt “true!” At McGuffey: Richards’ photographs of an impoverished African-American community in inner-city Philadelphia were as beautiful as they were challenging to this outsider. So much emotion. Be sure to go to the second floor to see the pregnant woman’s face.