CHENNAI : It was a weekend of conversation and camaraderie at the first International conference on Photography titled ‘Light Writing — The Photographic Image Reloaded’, held as part of the Chennai Photo Biennale (CPB) 2019 at the Museum Theatre in Egmore. Curated by the artistic director of the Biennale, Pushpamala N, the line-up of speakers included curators, critics, and scholars from different parts of the world who presented papers and discussed the current state of photography.
The conference was a platform created to question. “We are questioning the practice in its past, present and future forms, prodding one to think and join the dialogue around photography — Does the photograph stand as a witness or does it spread fake news? Is the photograph evidence? Is the photograph a document or is it somehow a strange and surreal version of our world? Why are photographers getting arrested and killed?” asked Pushpamala.
Themes that were explored at the conference were contemporary, interesting and relevant. The audience listened in rapt attention as the day progressed with one illustrious speaker after another.“My photography skills are very limited but looking at the topics that were being explored and the speakers, I knew I had to attend the conference,” said R Jaya, who attended the conference on Saturday. “Such events make art more accessible and since it is using public spaces, people stumble upon art which is lovely,” she added.
Everything from Anthropocene, land, environment, photography and the body, celebrity culture, the digital age, social media and surveillance, human rights and citizenship photography as a witness, forensic architecture, photography as memory, the archive as resistance, activism and politics; artificial intelligence to non-human photography were discussed.
Some of the speakers who addressed the audience included Ashwini Asokan (India), Diwas Raja (Nepal), Emeka Okereke (Nigeria), Kristoffer Gansing (Germany), and Zhuang Wubin (Singapore).
There were stunning installations at the Egmore Museum campus that people could see and enjoy. One set of photographs were taken by city schoolchildren who had been selected and trained by experts. The pictures brought out the beauty of the beach and the entire ecosystem that depends on the Marina. The others were taken by Manjunath Kamath.
Eight-year-old Shriram, who was at the museum with his parents to see the exhibition, said, “These pictures make me want to go to the beach. My father said these pictures were taken by people my age so now I also want to learn how to take pictures like this. He said I should try first on his phone so that is what I am going to do.” The second edition of Chennai Photo Biennale (CPB), will conclude on March 24, 2019 with large-scale exhibitions in different public spaces.
Photography reloaded
Everything from Anthropocene, land, environment, photography and the body, celebrity culture, the digital age, social media and surveillance, human rights and citizenship photography as a witness, forensic architecture, photography as memory, the archive as resistance, activism and politics; artificial intelligence to non-human photography were discussed.