Categories
Events

JaipurPhoto – celebrating travel through photography, curated by renowned photography critic Federica Chiocchetti with Lola Mac Dougall returns to the Pink City

JaipurPhoto ​(previously Travel Photo Jaipur) comes to Jaipur from ​24 February – 5 March, 2017 with a total of nineteen site specific exhibitions to be staged across four heritage buildings in Jaipur over the course of ten days. Large-format prints adapted to the exceptional architecture of the venues will be displayed in the Hawa Mahal, the Jawahar Kala Kendra (JKK), the Albert Hall Museum and new to this year’s festival, the City Palace. Produced by Orange Cat Productions in collaboration with the Department of Tourism, Government of Rajasthan, the festival is delighted to announce that for the 2017 edition, one of Europe’s most eminent photography critics and curators, Federica Chiocchetti ​will be Guest Curator of the festival alongside the Artistic Director Lola Mac Dougall.

The London-based curator who has never been to India had to ‘imagine’ and ‘study’ Jaipur and India from far away – felt inclined to search for photographic works that subtly connected the notions of travel with ideas of the imaginary and the unexpected. Working closely with the artistic director Lola MacDougall, she has taken the festival in a new direction addressing themes including: the concept of the fakecation (Paulo Simao), travel-fashion photography (Flurina Rothenberger), mass tourism (Reiner Riedler), the homo mobilis (Julien Lombardi), the last trip (Kris Vervaeke), photography as a healing tool (Mariela Sancari), travelling in time (Vasantha Yogananthan’s contemporary travelogue through the Subcontinent inspired by the epic tale The Ramayana), the photographic backdrop as a substitute for imaginary trips (Christophe Prebois, Catherine Molloy), difficult travels (Sonja Hamad) and a certain need for visual appropriation that characterises travelling today (Antonio Pérez Río).

During the festival’s opening weekend (24 – 26 February 2017), a series of talks, lectures and screenings at the JKK by renowned personalities from the world of photography will complement the festival’s exhibitions including Laia Abril, Naveen Kishore, Lars Willumeit and Sebastian Hau. The festival will also host a workshop on photobook making by Japan’s Yumi Goto (who launched Tokyo’s legendary Reminders Project) and Argentina’s award-winning photographer Mariela Sancari to engage more with young photographers, whether amateur or professional.

Confirmed participants include Priya Kambli, Pablo Bartholomew, Rajesh Vora, Flurina Rothenberger, Sonja Hamad, Marco Barbon, Simone Sapienza, Christophe Prebois, Caroline Molloy, Kris Vervaeke, Reiner Riedler, Paulo Simao, Tim Bowdicht, Mariela Sancari, Jan Hoek, Andre Gelpke, Vasantha Yoganantam, Matías Costa and Antonio Pérez Rio. Other programme guests include Aaron Schuman, Lars Willumeit, Laia Abril, Kapil Das, Vasantha Yogananthan, Naveen Kishore, Sebastian Ha and Rosalyn D’Mello. JaipurPhoto will also host two collateral exhibitions which will be held at the JKK, Memento Mori by Pablo Bartholomew in collaboration with Nature Morte and Everyday Baroque by Rajesh Vora in collaboration with PHOTOINK.

By exhibiting outdoors, in public locations and using large-size prints, the festival aims to encourage an alternative way of viewing photography – one that is more democratic and accessible, and which does away with the notion that photographic prints are inherently fragile, not to be touched and gallery bound. In an attempt to extend their reach and connect with different disciplines besides photography, as well as expand the creative context and dialogue, this year JaipurPhoto has collaborated with Indo-Swiss firm IN:CH Architects to design and fabricate a demountable architectural installation on which large-format prints will be displayed at the JKK. This architectural initiative will become a regular feature of JaipurPhoto in coming editions.

Lola Mac Dougall, Artistic Director, ​JaipurPhoto, comments, “One of the gems of the 2017 edition is a show that will be staged inside the Albert Hall Museum and we are excited at the prospect of inserting contemporary photography into this fascinating setting. Travel photography serves as the running thread through our exhibitions. Travel and photography have enjoyed a privileged relationship since the invention of the medium and during our opening weekend, talks by Laia Abril, Naveen Kishore, Sebastian Hau, Aaron Schuman and Lars Willumeit, amongst others, will highlight how this relationship is relevant even today.”

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *