les recontres d’Arles 2025
A festival defined by resistence, memory and transformation.
From 7 July to 5 October 2025, the 56th edition of Les Rencontres d’Arles returns under the evocative theme “Disobedient Images”, inspired by the ideas of Édouard Glissant. The festival presents 46 exhibitions, featuring approximately 160 artists across 26 historic and innovative venues in Arles, including Romanesque chapels, former factories and public spaces.
Exhibitions explore photography as a tool for resistance, addressing nationalism, ecological crisis, identity politics, Indigenous voices, queerness and the rewriting of archives.
The 2025 edition shines a light on Brazil and Australia, with major group exhibitions:
“Ancestral Futures” showcases Afro‑Brazilian, Indigenous, and LGBTQ+ perspectives, including rescued archives from Belo Horizonte’s Foto Cine Clube Bandeirante and a retrospective of Claudia Andujar’s early activism-driven work
“On Country: Photography from Australia” brings together around 20 Indigenous and non-Indigenous artists, such as Ricky Maynard, Brenda L. Croft, Maree Clarke, exploring cultural and spiritual ties to land, decolonization and identity
Major Established Artists:
Nan Goldin
Kikuji Kawada
Claudia Andujar
Letizia Battaglia
Diana Markosian
Camille Lévêque
Keisha Scarville
Carmen Winant
Carol Newhouse
Agnès Geoffray
Ricky Maynard
Brenda L. Croft
Maree Clarke
Joan Alvado
Emerging and Awarded Artists:
Octavio Aguilar
Julie Joubert
Heba Khalifa
Daniel Mebarek
Musuk Nolte
Zuzana Pustaioová
Denis Serrano
Faith Adu Afriyie
Eva Rodríguez
Pasquale Rescigno
Souraya Jureidini
Additional Contributors (group and themed exhibitions):
João Mendes
Afonso Pimenta
Lakapoy Collective
Mayara Ferrão
Atong Atem
Tony Albert
Alexandre Dupeyron
Jann Höfer
Martin Lamberty
Laif agency photojournalists