04 Dec Photo 2020 | Atong Atem and Damien Shen

Image: Damien Shen, Know yourself and you will win all battles (A Stone from Another Mountain Series), 2019, Etched tintype, 13 x 23 cm

Congratulations to represented artists Atong Atem and Damien Shen will be participating in the inaugural festival, PHOTO 2020. Running from 23 April to 10 May 2020, the theme for PHOTO 2020 invites artists, curators, writers and academics to interrogate the relationship between photography and truth in the post-internet age.

Atong Atem works primarily with photography and video to explore migrant narratives, postcolonial practices in the African diaspora and the exploration of identity through portraiture. Atem explores concepts of home and identity through a critical and sentimental lens and references the works of photographers Malick Sidibe and Seydou Keita as tools for navigating liminal spaces.

Through photography, Damien Shen primarily explores personal narratives around the impact of the colonial upon his people, the Ngarrindjeri. Shen’s practice is in a constant state of expansion, adapting and exploring personal issues, politics, and identities – rendering a public document of his journey and selfhood.

Atong Atem and Damien Shen create visual representations of their personal relationships to culture. Both artists offer insights into their own spaces and narratives through photography.

Visit Photo 2020 for more information on this international festival of photography.