Photographic Nights features international works, free portraits in Selma

Foot Soldiers Park will show the works of world-renowned photographers Friday and Saturday. 

Thirty national and international photographers will be screened during the event. On Friday and Saturday night, there will be two screenings, with 15 photographers being showcased each night.

In addition to the exhibit, the Photographic Nights Festival of Selma is offering free professional photoshoots to Selma citizens. Free professional photos will be available from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. at Foot Soldiers Park’s administration building at 1018 Water Ave., George Washington Carver Homes in Selma, Gospel Tabernacle Church on 2300 Summerfield Road and The Word Ministry on 7241 Alabama Highway 41 S Sardis.

Foot Soldiers Park Co-Founder Jo Ann Bland partnered with Stephane Kossmann to create the Selma festival installations. According to the official website for the Selma festival, Kossmann is an internationally acclaimed photographer who has founded photography festivals in France and North Africa.

Kossman said he and Bland “decided to create this festival to bring some kind of economy to Selma.”

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The festival will feature the works of photographers from New York, Virginia, Alabama and Europe. The guest of honor will be Peter Mitrovic, who was named “Personality of the Year” in French-speaking Switzerland in 2020. He has gained international recognition by photographing celebrities on the red carpet at the Cannes Film Festival while pursuing an intimate and humanistic body of work focused on dignity and memory. 

Further details on the participating photographers of the festival can be found here on the festival’s website.

The show highlights the work of Fode’ Diaby, a young African photographer who was unable to attend the festival but whose work will be featured there. 

Diaby’s photographs, titled “The Streets Where I Live,” capture the “everyday lives of those around me, showing their reality, and revealing the identity and realities of my country to share them with those who see my work.”