How to "Internationalize" the International Photography Festival 

Starting from the 2018 China International Photography Festival

Zhengzhou landmark against night scene  CUI Hanyu (China) 

Kunlun Mountain  LI Xueliang (China) 

Cuban Crab  Alexandre Meneghini (Cuba) 

One of aerial views of the earth  Yann Arthus-Bertrand (France) 

Chess opponents  HE Xunyi (China) 

　　People with same interests may not be distant from each other by mountains and rivers. Organized by China Photographers Association and Zhengzhou Municipal People's Government, the 2018 China International Photography Festival and the 17th China International Photographic Art Exhibition has been held in Zhengzhou of Henan Province on May 18th. As a biennial photography event, this festival demonstrated great diversity. With the joint opening of the 17th China International Photographic Art Exhibition and the 2018 Zhengzhou Image &Video Biennale, each of the 18 sections shined with each other with nine splendid events, striving to present a rich and diverse image and video context for all the audiences and allowing photographers around the world together to focus on the new propositions of the development of the new era and use photography to express their expectation of human development through the art form of photography to build a platform for cultural exchanges.Nowadays as the "Belt and Road Initiative"  is in full swing, the international cultural exchanges have become increasingly frequent. How to make the Photography Festival really possess an "Internationalized" level and how to highlight the power of voicefrom China in this festival?

　　Focus on Human Development with International Perspective

　　The "Community of Shared Future for Mankind" is the concept proposed by Chinese President XI Jinping in his talk about the future trend of human development. The namely "community"is the commonality, universality and consistency that heralds the fate of all countries and peoples, requiring all countries to treat the future development of human society from the perspective of "Great Harmony" and break boundaries and barriers.The organizers of the photography festival have demonstratedthis international perspective. Whether focusing on the global ecological environment,caring about the survival anxiety of modern urban humanity, whether projecting the customs and practicesfrom the unique perspective of countries along the "Belt and Road" initiative or telling people’s longing for and pursuit of peace,these works, capable of striking beyond the limits of vision,could stand in the position of the whole human being to care about the world, consider problems and find answers, and bring them to the world through photography concerning their perception and examination of the globe. When convening such point into a broad scape via group exhibition, we can clearly observe this group of photographers’ pursuit of human development from a global perspective in the kingdom of art.

　　Art is infinite. When photographers can break through politics, country boundary and different skin colors and deeply explore in terms of the value of "Community of Shared Future for Mankind",they realize the "Beauty Embraces Diversity and Integrity" in the art world. In this exhibition, several sections, such as "A Bird's-eye View of the Earth", "Infinity of Four Seasons", "Industrial Landscape & Space City", "Image Silk Road" and attracting people's attention,touched the hearts of the audiences and inspired everyone's thinking via their praiseof nature, the reflection of city, the care for the remote areas, the commendation of pastoral and the esteem for international communication. As noted by the Italian photographer Claudio Brufola: "As an international photography art exhibition, the important value promoted in this exhibition is the global vision of photographers. It does not require photographers to give up self-consciousnessto follow the world trend blindly, while they are required to face and embrace the changes of human society with a sober eye, update their concept of photography in the constant exchanges and collisions and display the world with a broader mind. All the works produced under such mind are very moving."

　　Pay Attention to Value-orientation of Photography’s Direction

　　The theme of this photography festival, "2018 Walks with the New Era", not only thinks about the fate of the future of mankind in the transformation of the times, but also focuses on the possibility of the development of photographic art itself in the future, which is also its crucial value orientation.The development of science and technology has changed the way of people’s life. The spread of aesthetics in everyday life also seems to announce the changes in the aesthetic approach. With the expansion of the photography crowds, it seems that taking pictures can be accomplished only through mobile phones. Under the premise that the mass base is so broad, how to promote the scientific development of the photographic art is also a core issue of this festival.In the selection process of the "17th China International Photographic Art Exhibition", the judges have selected 296 artworks from 230,000 pieces for display. One of their criteria was whether these pieces could inspire and guide the development of future potography. "The larger audience is, the more we emphasize its artistic nature, highlighting the photographer's emotional care and social care, that they can speak out the true feelings to the world, their own personalities, and underlining their artistic innovations, which is not just the pursuit of the artificial beauty." said LI Ge, chairman of the China Photographers Association.

　　In the invitational exhibition and exchange exhibitions, the various sections designed by the organizers were also committed to guiding the development of photography through displays and seminars."Contemporary image boundaries" explores the role of technology in art creation, asking whether the use of technology to extend the boundary of art is the future trend; "Image Silk Road" focuses on young photographers from countries along the Belt and Road Initiative, letting us to acknowledge their role in photography development; "Reproduce the World- Poetic Photography" presents the details of everyday life in a poetic way,advocating the artistic expression of photography; "Deconstruction" shows the possibility of the development of photography in an experimental manner, highlighting the important role of innovation in the future...These exhibitions possess their own emphasis and style, representing the thinking of photographers of various countries on the future development of world photography. "2018 Walks with the New Era" is not just a simple slogan, but to take care of the future of photographic art with developing vision and the perspective of the times. One of the important value orientations of this festival is to explore the possibilities of this future and to guide the photographers.

　　Establish Multi-voice Dialogue mechanism

　　Since the inauguration of the China International Photography Festival, each session will invite a guest country for a specific image exhibition, and ask the world's famous photographers to gather together to exchange and cooperate with each other. The guest country this time is Italy. As the focal point of the ancient Silk Road and the meeting point of the "Belt and Road" initiative, China and Italy have become more and more closely linked to each other, and Italy’s long history and unique artistic and cultural heritage are the highlights of this festival,bringing such a foreign style.Meanwhile, this festival also focuses on breaking the framework and allowing many famous foreign artists to meet with Chinese photographers, photography enthusiasts and audiences face to face. We can see Yann Arthus-Bertrand, Jean Turco,Claudio Brufola and Anne Baufolaand many other renowned world photographers and their Chinese peers in activities such as "Dialogues of Famous Artists", "Meeting with Experts" and "Exchanges about Photos by Famous Artists".The convergence of various sounds, viewpoints and multiple lines of vision is one of the highlights of this festival.

　　"Today's photography is considered to be one of the best media for recording society and expressing ideas in the 21st century. Today's photography has broader vision and clearer theme, which inspires people to think deeply about culture, value and innovative ideas. We hope to establish an intercommunion platform for international photographers to enrich the contemporary photography culture and promote the development of that of the world through the exchange of mutual communication and learning from each other in terms of photographic art. " LI Ge said.