Who is telling the story? This seemingly obvious question has been the basis and the foundation of all the work done with the Photo Vogue Festival: from celebrating the female gaze in fashion photography, to highlighting diversity behind and in front of the camera, to rethinking masculinity, PVF has always tried to challenge the danger of single, monolithic stories, and to push a multiplicity of points of view. For its 6th edition, titled REFRAMING HISTORY, we want to explore the projects that have reclaimed an alternative, different way of telling a tale.

It could be, for example, a project that reframes omitted, forgotten and overlooked historical events or figures, like Akinola Davies Jr.'s BBC video series Black To Life, a project that unearths forgotten stories of black British figure for the digital generation and perfectly symbolizes this year's festival - or even an alt-history, like the one in Bridgerton.

It could be a work that reclaims an aesthetic, an idea of beauty that has been diminished, stereotyped or exoticised : from projects that celebrates, for example, the Italian Southern aesthetic, to works dedicated to communities, minorities, body types usually marginalized by mainstream culture, such as stories with people with disabilities portrayed outside cliches.

It could be a project whose aim is to dismantle discriminations and social prejudices - be it racism, ableism, transphobia or homophobia, or one about a personal, private story, like retelling the story of your family, your community, your identity.

It could even be a work that tells a well known fictional story from a new point of view, a different twist on renowned tales such as The Little Mermaid or Alice in Wonderland, or on myths, novels, characters and paintings, like Botticelli's Venus, or the Girl with a Pearl Earring; it could be a work highlighting less known fictional tales that didn't get enough attention but deserve to be told and shared. The important thing is the authors challenging the mainstream narrative, providing a new, alternative point of view, reclaiming their space and the power of representation.

Helping in achieving what Chinua Achebe called "a balance of stories" or what Beyoncé defined as "a mosaic of perspectives" is one of the founding missions of Photo Vogue, Vogue's global photographic platform that this year celebrates its 10th anniversary. Human beings are storytelling animals: the stories we tell are not just a way of representing the world, they become the very world we inhabit. There's a great African proverb that Achebe often quotes, that says "until the lions have their own historians, the history of the hunt will always glorify the hunter." For this edition of the festival we are looking for the lions' stories.

As always, the scouting project is open to every photographic genre, from fashion to photojournalism, art and so on. This year, the Open Call will run on Photo Vogue, Picter and Instagram from today until June 25 and, as always, it will be completely free of charge.

With regard to Photo Vogue, we will follow the usual process of assessing the related images and projects you'll upload while, on Instagram, all you have to do is use the hashtag #VIreframinghistory.

For Picter every author will be able to submit maximum 10 images from one project and up to 3 videos that tackle the theme "Reframing History".

GRANT

Photo Vogue Festival 2021 launches a grant - as part of the Reframing History scouting initiative - in collaboration with Studio RM, a prestigious creative studio with offices in London and New York, specialising in colour grading and post production for film, print and digital.

The two participants - a photographer and a video maker - deemed by our international jury panel to have submitted the two most significant and interesting projects will receive a 5,000€ cash grant each, offered and paid by Studio RM, that can be used by the photographer and by the video maker to further their artistic endeavours and growth, which includes embarking on new photography and audio-visual projects.

In addition, the two participants will have the opportunity to exhibit their projects at the festival and on Studio RM's social media. This is a unique occasion for them to showcase their work to renowned curators, photo editors and artists and continue building their career.

The idea to set up a grant was born out of shared values between PVF and Studio RM, which has always been committed to discovering and supporting talented photographers and video-makers and to creating a fairer and more inclusive sector. Studio RM was founded by Robert Moore in 2010 and, besides collaborating with established artists such as Zoë Ghertner, Glen Luchford, Charlotte Wales, Campbell Addy, Jack Davison, Alasdair McLellan and Adrienne Raquel to name a few, aims to help young creatives mature their unique vision to the best. Thus, they have launched "Studio RM Discovers", a series of interviews with new and extraordinary talent who are shaping the industry and can be viewed on their social media platforms.

About the organization

Photo Vogue was launched in 2011 by Vogue Italia Brand Visual Director, Alessia Glaviano. At a time when photography was already ubiquitous online, Glaviano felt that what was missing was a curated platform dedicated to it.

Conceived as a community with a strong sense of belonging, as of today, Photo Vogue counts over 250,000 photographers, from amateurs to professionals, hailing from all over the world, who share a passion for photography and the desire to help each other and grow together.

Anyone can register and upload images of all genres, from portraiture to reportage, fashion and street photography. Led by Alessia Glaviano, and her team of experts, Photo Vogue curates a pool of incredible image makers from around the world and creates an internationally diverse database of the most interesting voices in contemporary photography. The mission of Photo Vogue has always been to champion talent, improving visual literacy and shaping a more just, ethical and inclusive visual world. In order to have a physical and virtual space in time to bring the community together and further the conversation around the promotion of creativity, diversity and justice in image-making, in 2016 Milan hosted the first edition of the Photo Vogue Festival. The event marked the first conscious fashion photography festival dedicated to the shared ground between Ethics and Aesthetics, bound to an influential fashion publication, and engaging the whole city of Milan with talks, exhibitions and photography-related initiatives. The 5 editions of the festival in 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019 and 2020 were always met with critical and public success.

Judging criteria

The exhibition will feature photographers selected by an internationally jury consisting of experts from across the world, with different backgrounds and vision so as to try to provide the most inclusive and multifaceted perspective.

Cover image: "Black To Life, 2019" by Akinola Davies Jr / Nuuksio Films