Going down to Margate

Image @ Charlie Engman,an emerging fashion and art photographer included in the Wandering Bears exhibition at MargatePhotoFest.

MargatePhotoFest is back for the second year on 13 and 14 August, featuring work by some of the hottest new fashion and art photographers

Author: Diane Smyth

29 Jul 2011 Tags: FestivalsPhotography

It's already famous for Tracey Emin and the newly-opened Turner Contemporary gallery but Margate now has another attraction - the MargatePhotoFest.

Launched in 2010, the festival focuses on contemporary photography and last year included exhibitions by Jason Evans, Ed Thompson and Vinca Petersen. This time around Peter Kennard is creating an installation based on his @earth book and Wandering Bears is curating an exhibition of emerging photographers including Anouk Kruithof, who recently won the grand jury prize for photography at the Hyeres festival of fashion and photography, and Charlie Engman, an emerging fashion and art photographer who has worked with i-D, Vice magazine and Urban Outfitters, and whose image is shown above. Wandering Bears is a collective of young photographers founded by Peter Haynes plus Nik Adam and Luke Norman (who work together as elplusen).

MargatePhotoFest will include nine exhibitions in locations around Margate's old town, plus a talk by photographer and author Kevin Meredith. The festival theme is 'organic', and the organisers are calling on the photographers and curators involved to "make connections with the outside, exploring the structure of groups, the viral nature of the idea and the formation of grassroots culture". The organisers also emphasise the grassroots nature of the festival, stating that it offers an "alternative to the large scale regeneration projects in the area". MargatePhotoFest is held on 13-14 August.