Aperture 246 - Celebrations

Aperture magazine presents “Celebrations,” an issue that considers how photographs envision ceremonies, festivities‚ and allow us to discover euphoria in the everyday.

Throughout the issue, photographers portray exuberance against a backdrop of political strife in Beirut, pursue the thrill of wanderlust, excavate family histories, and respond to the powerful, constant urge to gather. Whether in Kinshasa’s vibrant nightlife of the 1950s and ’60s or London’s sweaty dance floors of our era, jubilation carries on, despite an ongoing, and unpredictable, pandemic.

In “Celebrations,” Lynne Tillman contributes a survey of landmark images of celebration through the years, by artists from Malick Sidibé and Peter Hujar to LaToya Ruby Frazier. Several profiles and essays—including Alistair O’Neill on Jamie Hawkesworth, Moeko Fuiji on Rinko Kawauchi, Tiana Reid on Shikeith, Mona El Tahawy on Miriam Boulos, and Anakwa Dwamena on Marilyn Nance’s views of Lagos, Nigeria during FESTAC ’77—reveal the celebratory gestures embedded in vibrant portraiture, serene slants of light, unbound queer desire, and joyous cross-cultural exchange.