Unique in the world, Gruissan Sport Photo is THE sports photography festival, like the most prestigious thematic events, creative photography for the Rencontres d’Arles or Visa pour l’Image in Perpignan. Curtain up Wednesday June 19.
It is in the enchanting setting of Gruissan, on the edge of the pond, that the international sports photography festival, Gruissan Sport Photo, will be held for the first time, from Wednesday June 19. After having won over photography enthusiasts in Narbonne then Paris and Dubai, the festival returns to Occitan soil, thus marking its great return to the region where it was born.
From Narbonne to Dubai
“The idea came to me at Visa pour l’Image, explains the founder of the festival Gilbert Bénédicto. The World Press Photo area exhibited 5 extraordinary sports photos. I looked to see if there were any other great sports photography exhibitions and couldn’t find anything. The sports press chooses photos that are useful for the results, abandoning moving and unusual shots. We created the competition to invite as many photographers as possible to show their images and we set up Sportfolio in Narbonne in 2012, the first festival in the world dedicated to sports photos. It’s a way of saluting the talent of sports photographers about whom we don’t talk much.”
“When Paris was chosen as the Olympic city, in 2019, we brought the festival to the Carreau du temple and it became Paris Sport Photocontinues Gilbert Bénédicto. Then we were interrupted by Covid. We continued to set up exhibitions, participating in the Global Sport week, at the Louvre pyramid in 2020 then at the national sports museum in Nice, and we were invited by the French pavilion to the Dubai World Expo in December 2021. Didier Codorniou contacted me to relocate the festival to Occitan soil and this year it became Gruissan Sport Photo. We have signed a multi-year agreement over 3 years, because we are looking for financial partners.”
The best photos from an international competition
Visitors will have the opportunity throughout the summer to discover spectacular photos covering a multitude of sporting disciplines, from the most popular sports to the most unusual. 150 photographs are to be discovered, selected from the best sports photos in the world, coming from 84 talented photographers from 34 different countries. “Our most beautiful images come from our international competition open to professionals. We will exhibit the winners of the 2024 competition next year to take into account the Olympics!”
The photos, presented on large wooden panels, are grouped into modules: action, unusual, portrait, outside the stadium, reports etc…
Aside from current events, the festival also leaves room for photos that have made history. “We have presented some gems in our previous editions: 1968, the Blacks raise their fist in Mexico, Dick Fosbury’s first jump…” For this edition, it is of course rugby which opens the non-current parenthesis, with the special exhibition “Gueules de rugby”, of portraits signed Jean-Pierre Pagès.
The return of the event to Occitan soil is a celebration of the beauty of sport and the art of photography. By staging striking images in an exceptional natural setting in the form of a stroll, the festival creates an immersive experience for all lovers of sport and photography. Whether you are an amateur photographer, professional or simply passionate about sports, this meeting in Gruissan is an opportunity not to be missed, until October 31.
