Arnolfini, St Pauls Carnival, Martin Parr Foundation team up for a photo lab pop-up, celebrating Bristol’s African-Caribbean communities.
For over fifty years now, St Pauls Carnival has been joining communities together – with colourful costumes, kaleidoscopic dancing, scintillating music, and the city’s best home-cooked Caribbean food (served straight out of people’s kitchens!).
On 6 July, a group of photographers will hit the streets of Bristol capturing the spirit of the festival. From behind-the-scenes preparations through to the masquerade procession – and not forgetting the joyous crowd: the Carnival will be fully photographed.
The following week, come along as Arnolfini hosts Carnival Pop-Up – an ‘open photo lab’, welcoming the public into the process of selecting, editing, printing and hanging the best images from the day. Come along – see the images of the day’s festivities– and maybe even spot yourself!
To see how you can have your photography exhibited as a part of Carnival Pop Up, see details here.
Led by photographers Martin Parr (Magnum Photos, Sony World Photography Award for Outstanding Contribution to Photography 2017), Matt Stuart (In-Public street photography collective), Lua Ribeira (joint winner of Jerwood/Photoworks Award 2018), with a team of emerging photographer from St Pauls and around the UK to be announced.
Sponsored by Wex Photo Video and Epson.
Where to find us:
6 July: St Pauls Carnival
Enjoy the day in the sun – keep your eyes peeled for our team of photographers – and send us your shots of the day!
9-12 July, 11am-6pm: Open Photo Lab
Come and see the exhibition take shape in a pop up studio provided by Wex Photo Video.
12 July, 6pm: Opening Party
The final selection and installation will be unveiled, with guests from St Pauls Carnival
Exhibition runs Tuesday-Sunday, 11am-6pm.
Photographers include:
Matt Stuart
Born in 1974, Matt Stuart was raised in the leafy suburbs of Harrow, North West London. He admits to a less than distinguished school career, but was called upon aged 11 to play a trumpet solo in front of the Queen Mother. Her Majesty’s reaction is not recorded.
A little later, in 1986, Matt discovered skateboarding after watching the film “Back to the Future”. Skating occupied his every waking moment until 1994, when he looked up from the half-pipe and noticed that girls had got a lot more interesting. He also indulged in a brief, ill-advised affair with Kung Fu.
Matt’s father, keenly aware that his son would never be the next Bruce Lee, introduced him to photography, handing over books by Robert Frank & Henri Cartier-Bresson. Ever since then, photography has been Matt’s overriding passion, although he’s still quite interested in skateboards and girls. (But thankfully not Kung Fu).
Martin Parr
Martin Parr is one of the best-known documentary photographers of his generation. With over 100 books of his own published, and another 30 edited by Parr, his photographic legacy is already established.
Parr also acts as a curator and editor. He has curated two photography festivals, Arles in 2004 and Brighton Biennial in 2010. More recently Parr curated the Barbican exhibition, Strange and Familiar.
Parr has been a member of the Magnum agency since 1994 and was President from 2013 – 2017. In 2013 Parr was appointed the visiting professor of photography at the University of Ulster.
Parr’s work has been collected by many of the major museums, from the Tate, the Pompidou and the Museum of Modern Art in New York.
Martin Parr established the Martin Parr Foundation in 2017.
Lua Ribeira
Lua Ribeira is a Galician photographer based in Bristol. She graduated from Documentary Photography at the University of South Wales in 2016. Her practice is characterized by its collaborative nature, extensive research and an immersive approach to her subject matter.
Ribeira was the recipient of the Firecracker Grant in 2015, and the Jerwood/Photoworks Award in 2018. Lua joined Magnum Photos as a Nominee in 2018.