M+ will collaborate with the French May Arts Festival to present its first photography-themed special exhibition, “Hong Kong Jockey Club Presents: Black and White – Photography Narratives,” starting from March 16, 2024. Co-curated by M+ and the National Library of France, and exclusively sponsored by the Hong Kong Jockey Club Charities Trust, this exhibition marks M+’s first exploration of the medium of photography. It is also the opening program of the 2024 French May Arts Festival, showcasing over 250 precious photos from the collection of the National Library of France, as well as more than 30 works from the M+ collection, examining the enduring art medium of black and white photography.
The exhibition, themed on photography from 1915 to 2019, marks the first large-scale public display of the photography collection from the National Library of France in Asia. This special exhibition will showcase works from over 170 internationally renowned photographers, including Man Ray, Daido Moriyama, Mario Giacomelli, Robert Frank, William Klein, Daido Moriyama, Valérie Belin, and Henri Cartier-Bresson. Additionally, the exhibition will feature over 30 pieces from the M+ collection by famous Asian photographers and artists such as Zhang Xiaotang, Ho Fan, Lang Jingshan, Liu Xiangcheng, Nalini Malani, Yasutaka Kojima, and Qiu Liang, tracing how their creations have influenced this highly expressive art form.
The exhibition is divided into three main themes, allowing the audience to understand the production of black and white images for over a century from different perspectives. “Contrast” captures moments of strong contrast in daily life, enhancing our perception of reality; “Light and Shadow” showcases how photographers paint with light to outline the delicate texture, atmosphere, patterns, and structures of images; “Color Scenes” highlights how subtle differences in grayscale can create endless variations in monochrome photography.
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