Southeast Asia Information Port (www.dnyxxg.com) – “The Lishui Photography Festival is becoming increasingly international. It provides a platform for global photographers to communicate and exchange ideas, deepening connections between people and countries. I only learned to make Jinyun sesame seed cakes after coming to Lishui,” said Jim Remo, Chair of the Photography Department at Parsons School of Design, in an interview with China News Service on November 8th, at the opening of the 6th International Photography Symposium and the 2025 Lishui Photography Festival in Lishui, Zhejiang.
The Lishui Photography Festival has been held 12 times since 2004. This year's festival, themed “New Creation, Vibrant Life,” ultimately selected 1335 entries, showcasing 18531 works, attracting photographers from 37 countries and regions, including the United States, the United Kingdom, France, and Spain.
Unlike previous years, this year's photography festival opened with an open-air performance, combining a "street parade of intangible cultural heritage" with fixed-location performances. It showcased representative projects of China's national intangible cultural heritage, such as "Longquan celadon firing techniques," "traditional wooden arch bridge construction techniques," and "Qingtian fish lantern dance," attracting photographers from around the world to create on-site.
"I've been involved with Chinese culture for over 20 years, visiting cities like Beijing and Shanghai. Photography is an important way for the world to understand China," said Nelson Ramirez, director of the Cuban National Museum of Photography. He added that the intangible cultural heritage performances included many collaborative dances with great vitality, which inspired his work. "I especially liked the square formations that incorporated elements of Eastern and Western painting; they were very interesting."
Tomas Ruff's solo exhibition, "Mind Maps of Photography," is a highlight of this year's festival. Thomas Ruff, a world-renowned master photographer and one of the most influential representatives of the Düsseldorf School, has his works collected by numerous museums and art galleries worldwide. This exhibition presents 18 series of works spanning his 40-year artistic career, and his latest series, "Experiments in Light," will also be exhibited in China for the first time. “Today, people live in an era where the authenticity of images is greatly challenged, and I am often asked, ‘Where does the future of photography lie?’ At the Yeosu Photography Festival, I saw many excellent works and expressions from young people, and I believe the future of photography is in their hands,” said Thomas Ruff.
Photography is a bridge of hearts that transcends borders. In the second “Beauty in Harmony” International Sister Cities Themed Photography Exhibition, 28 photographic works from five of Yeosu’s international sister cities—Yeosu, South Korea; Santiago, Chile; and Belgrade, Serbia—showcased the local customs and cultures, using light and shadow as a medium to further deepen people-to-people exchanges between countries. (End)
