New Delhi, Apr 2 (IANS): A year-long photography festival, conceptualised and curated by academic and museum curator Alka Pande around the theme of sustainable development has kicked-off at India Habitat Centre here.
An initiative by India Habitat Centre, this is the second edition of such year-long photo fest that germinates from Photosphere Fellowship Awards. The festival is thus titled "Habitat Photosphere".
The announcement also highlights this year's four awardees of the Photosphere fellowship.
Selected through an open call for application and from hundreds of entries, the four photographers -- Juhi Saklani (New Delhi), Thulasi Kakkat (Kochi), Zishaan Akhbar Latif (Mumbai) and Syed Adnan Ahmed (Rajasthan) -- have been given a Rs 2 lakh grant to produce a significant body of work that will be exhibited during the grand finale of the festival, slated for February-March 2019.
"We are a festival with a green conscience. While the first edition dealt with the subject of Panchtattvas (five elements) under the meta-narrative of sustainable development, this year's focus will be on cultural sustainability, which is as relevant and pertinent as ecology and environment, and in fact, impact it as well. Also this year, there was a shortlist round where eight candidates were first shortlisted, and from which the final four were then selected," said Pande, the festival director.
The awardees will be mentored through the year by an eminent panel of photographers including Aditya Arya, Bandeep Singh, Parthiv Shah and Prabir Purkayastha respectively.
Habitat Photosphere brings together the spheres of photography and sustainability, through fellowship and mentorship, followed by a month long grand finale of exhibitions, workshops, talks and screenings at India Habitat Centre.
In addition, there will also be curated events and exhibitions on the theme of sustainability throughout the year. The festival is followed up with a photo-book titled "Visual Arts Journal 2018 Photography: Art, Archive, Document" that aims to position itself as a handbook of diverse scholarly works on photography from prominent authors, curators and art practitioners.