Bristol Photo Festival 2021 – IN PROGRESS: Laia Abril – Hoda Afshar – Widline Cadet – Adama Jalloh – Alba Zari

Commissioned by the RPS, IN PROGRESS: Laia Abril – Hoda Afshar – Widline Cadet – Adama Jalloh – Alba Zari consists of five solo exhibitions and will show select new works by the “most innovative photographers and photo-based artists working today”.

Instead of linking the participating artists around an overarching theme, each was given their own show within the exhibition.

Exploring everything from cultural identity to migration to morality the creative process, the exhibition aims to be a look at the possibilities that photography offers, including in research, critique and self-expression.

IN PROGRESS: Laia Abril – Hoda Afshar – Widline Cadet – Adama Jalloh – Alba Zari will feature five shows.

Menstruation Myths by Laia Abril explores the lack of understanding around the menstrual cycle, from its taboo nature to the pain of menstruating.

Abril is a multidisciplinary artist and Menstrual Myths forms part of her larger body of work, A History of Misogyny.

Hoda Afshar’s Agonistes is centred around the experiences of men and women who were former employees in immigration, youth detention, disability care, and other government agencies in Australia.

They chose to speak out as whistle-blowers and who now live with the “tragic consequences” of doing so.

Individuals describe personal and professional ruin, the breakdown of friendships and family relationships, and the physical and mental anguish that followed their decision to call out alleged abuses. The piece has been created by Iranian-born Afshar, who based in Melbourne, and questions the links between morality and the law.

Seremoni Disparisyon (Ritual [Dis]Appearance) by Widline Cadet is a series of self-portraits.

A Haitian-born artist based in New York, Cadet’s practice draws from her own personal history, and examines race, memory, erasure, migration, immigration and Haitian cultural identity from within the USA.

Occult by Alba Zari attempts to gain a deeper understanding of the Christian fundamentalist cult that Zari was born into, The Children of God (now known as The Family International).

Her family left the cult when she was four and was never spoken of again. Occult explores the beliefs and the visual propaganda that led to the recruitment of her biological grandmother into the cult and incorporates archival material as well as Zari’s own photographs and videos.

Adama Jalloh’s Process [2015 – Present] is a reflective show, looking at her work over the past half a decade.

“Being Black, British, African and a Woman have all shaped the ways in which I both see and interpret the world,” says Jalloh.

“Many aspects of my background, upbringing and personal life have served as the basis for how I’ve chosen to navigate my photographic practice in all its forms.”

Much of the work focuses on London, and aims her community’s cultural traditions and symbols.

“I’ve found that there is a consistency within Black British communities; a principle of standing firm and maintaining our identities in some way, even in the most everyday of things or moments,” says Jalloh.

“Ultimately I find this beautiful, and aim to document and preserve this in any and every way I can.”

The five shows were curated by the RPS’ Aaron Schuman.

Bristol24/7 is Bristol Photo Festival’s local media partner. This article is part of a series looking at the festival’s summer exhibitions.

Main photo: Tantra, Goa, India, 2020 from the series ‘Occult’ © Alba Zari courtesy Royal Photographic Society

Read more: Bristol Photo Festival 2021 – Thames Log