Blazing a Trail at the Arles Photo Festival

The festival’s guest of honor — and the face of the Argentina Trail — is 90-year-old León Ferrari, who skewers everyone from the Virgin Mary to George Bush in his photo collages, installations make money online, drawings and sculptures. Given the bold and derisive tone of Ferrari’s work, the Chapelle Sainte-Anne was an audacious choice by the curator Andrés Duprat. “Western-Christian Civilization,” his 1965 piece depicting Christ crucified on a fighter plane, which was created as a protest to the Vietnam War, hangs in the pulpit.

For 41 years, photo enthusiasts have descended en masse on Arles, the colorful Provencal town, to partake in the annual Les Rencontres d’Arles photography exposition. This summer is no exception. While the buzz is loudest in July, when there are evening screenings and soirées, the festival goes until Sept. 19, giving eager shutterbugs, art admirers and international travelers time to enjoy the exhibitions without the high season’s swarms.

Rounding out the festival are the Friends of the LUMA Foundation Trail (featuring 15 exhibitions competing for a 25,000-euro prize), the Prison Trail (think bleak French penitentiary facilities) and the Off-Trail (a medley of styles and subjects that pulls in students and sponsors).

The most notable event of the festival is the Rock Trail, anchored by the first-ever solo show of Mick Jagger portraits. From a young brooding Brit to a weathered international idol, 40 years’ worth of portraits hang in chronological order at the dark and moody Eglise des Trinitaires, giving die-hard fans the proper place to genuflect. Other stars rocking the trail include Sid Vicious, Iggy Pop and Beth Ditto.