I consider a photo exhibition to be a social gathering of some sort. Unless the photographer is no longer, otherwise it's a valuable opportunity for everyone to meet in person, to be able to engage in a direct conversation with one another.
With the upcoming AI generation, I feel a "face to face" meet will only become more valuable. I believe photography is "the person behind the camera" , and certainly NOT the other way around. I agree a picture speaks a thousand words, so why not have the creators speak for their own work, straight from the source. That way, we the audience, would have a more accurate depiction of their work.
On the contrary, some would argue it's best to laissez faire, leave more room for us readers to interpret, that a photo should speak for itself and tells a story all on its own. I can't say I disagree. A photo should contain a story, and it is certainly way more fun / satisfying if we were to fiddle with our imagination and letting it sprint freely.
I would stick with the traditional if all things were like yesteryears, but is this the case ? Millions of new photos are being uploaded by each minute, and they are all incredibly stunning work created by so many talented people from all over the world. So naturally I become numb towards stunning photos, I feel a good photo alone is not enough in this new era of photography.
A Photo Exhibition, IMO, puts a face in front of the photos, to remind the audience there's an actual person behind these images. It too reminds the photographers it's not about Likes and Subscribers, that we are all the same: human
Humanity is the core value behind our exhibition, it's not clearly defined because I have troubles with communication. But I'm sure as time goes by, this statement will get more obvious.
