encontros da imagem 2023: mother of water, por hahn & hartung

Created in 1987, the international photography and visual arts festival Encontros da Imagem is the oldest festival of its kind in Portugal and one of the oldest in Europe, with a rich and extensive collection. Having established itself as an essential platform for the dissemination and creation of photography, in 2023 it reaches its 33rd edition. This year, the festival celebrates the theme “Rehearsal for the Future”, conveying a desire to explore the challenges that are still being faced and the conversations that are still needed: representation and inclusion, environmental sustainability, the politics of everyday life and social movements as powerful forces for change. For the festival, it is urgent to listen and stop. If democracies are showing signs of fragility and extremism is gaining ground in the frenzy of the virtual world and real life, we must stop and think about new forms of organization, ways of life and creation. With “Rehearsal for the Future”, the festival proposes thinking about the present so that, together, we can imagine and build the future.

mother of water, byhahn & hartung

The Mekong, the world’s most biodiverse river after the Amazon, meanders over 4,500 kilometres across Southeast Asia. From the Tibetan plateau, it runs through the Chinese province of Yunnan, Burma, Laos, Thailand, Cambodia, and Vietnam. For centuries, it has been the social and cultural lifeline of the region. The more than 1,200 known species of fish in the Mekong have saved millions of people from starvation during droughts, floods, and the murderous Cambodian Pol Pot regime.

Miguel Hahn and Jan-Christoph Hartung are a photographer duo based in Berlin. They studied Photography at the University of Applied Sciences in Darmstadt. In 2009 they started working as a team.

full programme in encontrosdaimagem.com