Award-winning photographer Daniel Castro Garcia confirmed for Journeys Festival International, Leice
Journeys Festival International is excited to announce that Daniel Castro Garcia, winner of the British Journal of Photography’s International Award 2017, is confirmed as the Look Up artist for Journeys Festival International, Leicester 2017
Look Up will present Daniel’s visually striking project Foreigner: Migration into Europe 2015 – 2016 in large scale on buildings across the city centre between 21 August – 3 September 2017 connecting the people of Leicester to the beautiful imagery and the poignant subjects in his photography series.
Foreigner puts a face to the individuals caught up in the largest migrant movement since World War II. Visually striking, the portraits offer an emotional connection with those depicted, rather than the imagery used in mass media.
“At the heart of this work was the desire to create a dignified response to this humanitarian crisis, that was not about sensationalism. I think that although it is very hard, both the photographer and the audience should make the effort to try to put themselves in the shoes of the person in the image. If you or I were going through a traumatic situation we would not want a photographer coming up to us and taking photographs without permission.” Daniel Castro Garcia
The British-born photographer feels a close connection to the issues surrounding migration as his own parents emigrated from Galicia to the UK for economic reasons in the 1960’s. Though he identifies as British, the rise of nationalism and the polarising discourse around migration, refuge and immigration issues was a catalyst for the project and Garcia’s motivation for it to continue.
“I am not interested in objectivity and I fundamentally feel that it is impossible to be objective with a camera anyway. Thomas Saxby [co-founder of John Radcliffe Studio] and I felt that the balance in the story was not there [in the press], so our work is aiming to create more balance. To hopefully make the audience realise that this is not a black-and-white story, but in fact a very complicated one that needs thought and patience.” Daniel Castro Garcia
The series will be part of Look Up in Leicester, a large scale, outdoor art exhibition that is a key event at each Journeys Festival International. Events will take during the festival, including Art Walks, hosted by a representative from the Journeys Festival International team. They will help you to navigate the exhibition and discover more about the artist, the inspiration behind the work and the individuals portrayed within it.
21 Aug – 03 Sept 2017
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www.journeysfestival.com
