until Sunday September 22 2013

Palais de l’Archevêché
T : +33 (0)4 90 96 76 06
Place de la République
13200 Arles
France

www.rencontres-arles.com/A11/Home

Album Beauty is an ode to the vanishing era of the photo album as told through the collection of Erik Kessels. Once commonplace in every home, the photo album has been replaced by the digital age where images live online and on hard drives.

Photo albums were once a repository for family history, often representing a manufactured family as edited for display. They speak of birth, death, beauty, sexuality, pride, happiness, youth, competition, exploration, complicity and friendship. Album Beauty is an exhibition about the visual anthropology of the photo album.

Erik Kessels is a collector of vernacular photography and has spent many a Saturday at outdoor markets and junk stores collecting these amateur narratives. He is often drawn to their imperfections.