2nd FOCUS Photography Festival opens in Mumbai

Sameer Raichur, “Initiating mischief”, from the series Because we come from somewhere, 2014 © the Artist, courtesy FOCUS Photography Festival Mumbai, 2015.

FOCUS Photography Festival Mumbai opens their second edition from 12th to 26th March 2015. The festival promises 30+ exhibitions, outdoor shows, workshops, book launches and talks. This year’s theme CROSSOVER is an examination of the world through multiple viewpoints and stresses the importance of plurality in historical and contemporary Indian societies. The festival is supported by Bloomberg Philanthropies and the Mohile Parikh Center.

Festival Highlights include:

● Yaathum Oore, Yaavarum Kelir: The Whole World is My World, Humanity is My Fraternity

This exhibition is the result of a worldwide call by FOCUS for photographers to submit work on the festival’s theme. Photographers were invited to explore, investigate and visualise in particular the ‘cultural crossover’ that has given rise to new forms of hybridisation and homogenisation of culture.

● Neither Natural nor Necessary, selections from III Form and Void Full

Canadian fine-art photographer and professor at the University of Chicago, Laura Letinsky, will present a section of works from Ill Form and Void Full. The works depict crumbling, half eaten cakes and tablecloths stained after a raucous meal. Dirty spoons, empty cantaloupe rinds, halfeaten lollipops and clumsily cut slices of bread are her trade.

● Fairer People = Beautiful People = Powerful People

A solo exhibition by Arpan Mukherjee, The Art Entrance Gallery, Kala Ghoda: Using the wet plate collodion process, a photographic method that dates back to the anthropological documentation of colonial Indian in the 19th century, the artist invited a group of young adults whose skin is dark in colour to explore the relationship between fairness of skin, and preferential treatment in their family and broader society. Arpan Mukherjee is an associate professor of printmaking and visual art at Visva Bharati University, Santiniketan.

Full Programme and details on www.focusfestivalmumbai.com

Arpan Mukherjee, “Untitled 02”, from the series Fairer People = Beautiful People = Powerful People, ambrotype photographs, 2014 © the Artist, courtesy FOCUS Photography Festival, 2015.

Arpan Mukherjee, “Untitled 01”, from the series Fairer People = Beautiful People = Powerful People, ambrotype photographs, 2014 © the Artist, courtesy FOCUS Photography Festival, 2015.

Werner Anslem Buhre, “In girum imus nocte et consumimur igni – I”, from the series ‘In girum imus nocte et consumimur igni, 2014’ © the Artist, courtesy FOCUS Photography Festival Mumbai, 2015.