Backlight Photo Festival is the oldest international photography festival in Finland, run by a non- profit association Photographic Centre Nykyaika in Tampere. In 2017 we celebrate our 30th jubilee under the wide theme of Independence. As in previous editions we are keeping our focus on social issues from global perspectives to individual experiences and views, hoping to challenge, expose and encourage discourses outside the mainstreams.
The series selected show us attempts and battles for independence as well as letting go of it. Cultural identities and their traditions create expectations on how to be and how to live ones life, but at the same time the surrounding expectations meld with universal longing for equal opportunities, freedom of choice and experience of oneself being accepted as oneself to the surrounding community.
