Eminent photographers showcase their works at the third edition of Delhi Photo Festival themed around ‘Aspire’
With winter slowly setting in, the city is buzzing with cultural activities. And a much awaited event in the cultural calendar is Delhi Photo Festival (DPF), a biennial event celebrating photography as a medium of art.
The third edition of this festival will be held at Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts (IGNCA). This year, the nine-day long festival is themed around ‘Aspire’. “The idea was to have a topic that had multiple connotations and ‘aspire’ is one such term,” states Dinesh Khanna, Project Director, DPF and adds, “In an era of globalisation, many of us only think about the economic aspirations of a nation or its people. But aspiration is not limited to a positive outlook. The term also has a negative meaning of wanting more and getting greedy. So, we suggested the idea to the artists and gave them the freedom to interpret it in their own way.”
An initiative by the non-profit organisation Nazar Foundation in association with The British Council, the festival will feature eminent names from the fraternity like Olivia Arthur, Philipp Ebeling, Raghu Rai and Pablo Bartholomew. The festival also includes workshops and panel discussions offering photography practitioners a platform to have a dialogue around the theme. The organisers have also partnered with some of the leading galleries in town to host parallel shows featuring works by photographers. Dinesh says, “The aim was to bring all photography lovers together and provide a great platform to interact and learn from some of the eminent photographers. These photographers will be sharing their idea of narration through photography. Also part of the festival are gallery walks, artist talks and book launches.”
From late photojournalist Kishore Parekh’s influential work on the Bangladesh war titled ‘A Brutal Birth’ to Austrian photographer Klaus Pitchler capturing the elaborately costumed individuals against the backdrops of their everyday life in his series of work titled ‘Just The Two Of Us’, the festival explores the idea of aspiration from every aspect of life.
Delhi-based photographer Vinit Gupta is showcasing a collection titled ‘Where They Belong’, capturing the lives of the tribes from Mahan, Madhya Pradesh. Talking about his work, he says, “I first went there for a 15-day assignment for an environmental NGO, but ended up spending more than nine months there. The series does not aim to glorify or show the struggle of these tribes but present the cultural heritage of these folk artists. I wanted to show their real life. Apart from pictures, I have also documented testimonies of the elderly about their lives from the last 50 years and their views on the transition.”
Danila Tkachenko’s ‘Restricted Areas’ explores Russia’s abandoned landscapes. The photo project documents the trail that is left behind as a result of the continuous technological advancement. “I feel like I am an archaeologist encountering the traces of a past civilisation in order to understand the reasons (why we) create these objects,” Tkachenko said in an interview in the British Journal of Photography.
Karan Vaid’s work comprises photos of different breeds of dog with their owners from various dog shows across the country. His collection ‘The Indian Dog Show Project’ explores the subculture in the country by revisiting various dog shows. “I spent a better part of my childhood attending dog shows with my parents. I started the project as vernacular photography and later decided to document the subculture with such a long-lasting legacy. The series showcases the aspirations to belong to a ‘class’,” shares Karan.
