In the first week of its 56th edition, the world’s biggest photography festival, Les Rencontres d’Arles gathered nearly 23,000 photographers, artists, professionals and enthusiasts. ICP had a significant presence across The Dior Photography and Visual Arts Award for Young Talents, the main exhibitions and a panel hosted by ICP’s Darin Mickey, chair of the Creative Practices program, and David Campany, Creative Director.
Earlier this summer, ICP alumni and faculty were present from across the Americas, Europe and Asia at a cocktail mixer, followed by a panel discussion at The ENSP the next morning. Raine Roberts (Creative Practices ’23) said that it was beautiful to have ICP facilitate that 1-1 experience with the attendees in such an intimate setting.
The panel spotlighted ICP alumni Roberts and Chia-Yun Wu (Creative Practices ’24), who were shortlisted alongside eight other artists for the Dior Photography and Visual Arts Award for Young Talents—an international competition for students and recent graduates of leading art and photography schools.
“A lot of great conceptual work, everybody was telling personal stories — including communities and diasporas— in more open and experimental ways," Mickey said about the Dior exhibition
"Everyone’s work was very different but similar in some senses," said Roberts. "They did a really lovely job with that shop and the events for that day. I had quite a few jury members come up to after the show and take notice. That was very validating!”
Raine Roberts’s project Stages of compromise won a special mention from the jury in the Dior Photography prize
Meanwhile, Anh Nguyễn, (Documentary Practice ’24) the OpenWalls Spotlight 2025 Series Winner, was part of a British Journal of Photography show at Galerie Huit Arles. Ying Ang (Documentary Practice ’10) has her project Gold Coast in On Country: Photography from Australia on view at Église Sainte-Anne until October 5, 2025. ICP Faculty Keisha Scarville had her show Alma (until October 5, 2025) on display at Salle Henri Comte. And Christoph Bangert (Documentary Practice '03) and Chiho Bangert brought their project Fotobus Society — including an actual Mercedes-Benz O 303 Omnibus – to the show.
Ying Ang (Documentary Practice ’10) has her project Gold Coast in On Country: Photography from Australia on view at Église Sainte-Anne until October 5, 2025
Anh Nguyễn, (Documentary Practice ’24) the OpenWalls Spotlight 2025 Series Winner, was part of a British Journal of Photography show at Galerie Huit Arles
ICP Faculty Keisha Scarville also had her show Alma (until October 5, 2025) on display at Salle Henri Comte.
We always say community when we talk about ICP. To see alumni and faculty so well represented at Arles is very assuring of how important the institution is. There were alumni from 15 years ago, last year and in between coming together beautifully. It just shows how ICP is a beginning step in what becomes a much larger, organic movement which alumni eventually go on to create in the world,” said Mickey.
Bob Jeffrey, CEO of ICP, added about his time engaging with the extended ICP community at Arles: “It was a powerful reminder of how active and far-reaching our alumni network has become, and how deeply connected our community remains, even internationally.”
Alumni Ying Ang said: “I think that ICP does a good job with connecting with an international alumni community at ICP but has the potential to collaborate more with the festival at an exhibiting capacity. The ICP school has nurtured so much amazing talent over the years, it seems like a great opportunity to showcase this talent on a global platform with Rencontres d’Arles.”
Ang, whose work draws on the First Peoples of Australia, said: “I loved Michael Cook’s and Robert Fielding’s works. I saw Robert do an artist talk and hearing him speak in his indigenous language was a compelling. He has a particular gravity in his way of storytelling that transcends the image — something that feels more and more necessary in contemporary work.
Key themes at the festival this year centred global narratives, bringing together themes ranging from mythologised memories and ancestral resistance to decolonial archives. With a range of contemporary practices, vernacular archives and formal experimentation across the program. Jeffrey added about ICP’s mission: “It reminded me that ICP must continue to lead, break the mold, and champion work that is both visually compelling and socially engaged.”