Perpignan Notepad: X-Ray Specs

One of the most unusual exhibitions at Visa pour l'Image is a series of X-ray images of guns. French artist Hady Sy's "Not For Sale" series shows the intricate inner workings of deadly weapons throughout history. Sy created these images as a reaction to being kidnapped and threatened with a gun while he was a student in Beirut, Lebanon. Sy worked with several law enforcement agencies (and a French hospital) to produce the series, which hangs impressively in a tall display in one of Visa's exhibition spaces.

(Photo © Hady Sy)

More news and notes from Perpignan follow...

Neither Here Noor There

Here's my PDNOnline report on the new agency Noor.

The Digital Railroad/Noor launch party Thursday night was classic Perpignan: All the right ideas, not enough logistics to support it. The crowd spilled out of the pint-sized Sense Bar into the Place de la République, jamming a corner of the lamp-lit plaza in the old city. After a few motionless minutes of watching people cut in front of me in the drink line, I gave up and stood around outside, chatting up photographers and editors I know and trying to meet new ones. With the help of an editor from the German agency Bilderberg, we cracked the secret code governing the colored stripes on our nametags. (Red = photographer, purple = agency, yellow = gallery, blue = magazine.) Kadir van Lohuizen came around, smiling – he stands about a head taller than the crowd, helped by a mop of curly hair – and handed out little books promoting his new agency. Some local Perpignaners staggered around, party crashers drunk on free beer. One dude climbed up a post and liberated a street sign. A gnarly looking mutt weaved through the crowd, sniffing people. After a while I went back to the bar, but turned back when I noticed the bartenders were refilling disposable plastic cups that they had collected from the tables outside. Besides, it was getting late. Wouldn't want to be less than fully alert at the 10:00 presentation the next morning…

The Morning After

… "It's a little bit of a tough morning," Kadir said at the start of Noor's launch presentation just after 10:00 Friday. Stanley Greene put a finer point on it out a few minutes later, apologizing after his cell
phone rang on stage. "We're all a little hungover," he said.

Too Much Getty?

I've already reported on Getty's grant announcement and Reportage rebranding, but here is some more Getty news that deserves a mention. For the first time, Getty Images has signed on as a sponsor of Visa pour l'Image from 2008 through 2010. Next year will be the festival's 20th year.

Expense It!

One photo agency seems to have flown all, or nearly all, of its California-based staff to Perpignan for the entire week – despite the fact that they have no booth on the show floor, no photographers in any exhibitions, and as far as I can tell no formal role here other than to mingle. Not that there's anything wrong with mingling. I won't mention their name, but it starts with the letter Zuma.

Awards Announced So Far:

Visa d'or International Daily Press: Israel Rosas, Luis Castillo, Jorge Luis Plata and Julio Candelaria of the Mexican newspaper Reforma, for coverage of the unrest in Oaxaca.

Canon Female Photojournalist Award: Axelle de Russé (Abaca) for a collection of work including stories on the plight of "kept women" in China and the recent French election. (Related press release.)

City of Perpignan Young Reporter Award: Mikhael Subotzky (Magnum Photos) for work on crime and prisons in South Africa.

CARE International Award for Humanitarian Report: Jean Chung (World Picture Network) for work on maternal mortality in Afghanistan.

Awards Still To Come:

Visa d'or Magazine Award (to be announced late Friday)
Nominees are Jane-Evelyn Atwood (Vu-Contact Press Images), Samuel Bollendorff (Oeil Public), Diane Grimonet (Fedephoto), Lizzie Sadin, and Per-Anders Petterson (Getty Images).

Visa d'or News Award (to be announced late Saturday)
Nominees are Michael Kamber (The New York Times), Benoit Schaeffer, and Kadir van Lohuizen (Noor)