The international photography biennial Photoquai in Paris, which presented work by emerging photographers from Asia, Africa and the Americas, has been cancelled ahead of its sixth edition. The Quai Branly Museum founded the event in 2007.
The biennial aimed to “make contemporary photography from Africa, Asia, Oceania and the Americas, ignored or little-known in France by the wider public, more visible”, said Stéphane Martin, the museum’s president, at the inauguration of the biennial’s fifth edition in September 2015.
The biennial showed the work of around 40 photographers in an outdoor, free display along the Seine River, just opposite the museum. Last year’s edition presented 400 images tied to the theme We Are Family. The event was well attended despite closing nearly a week early following the terror attacks in Paris on 13 November. It attracted 531,264 visitors, up from 527,582 in 2013 and 438,225 in 2011.
Some have suggested that budgetary concerns caused the cancellation. The Quai Branly Museum, which is celebrating its tenth anniversary this year, did not respond to a request for comment on the decision from our sister paper Le Journal des Arts.