2015 Round up

FOCUS Photography Festival Mumbai 12 – 26 March 2015

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FOCUS Photography Festival 2015 wrapped up on Thursday 26 March following a successful two-week programme. In its second year, FOCUS expanded in scope and hosted 35 exhibitions, 47 events including talks and walk-throughs and 8 educational workshops, reaching an audience of tens of thousands of people who were able to enjoy the works by both the international and national artists on show.

Among the international participants who visited the festival were:
Stephanie Cornfield, (French American) // Swapnaa Tamhane & Aman Sandhu of August Frӧhls (Canada) // Esa Epstein of sepiaEYE gallery (USA) // Paul Sternberger, Rutgers University, Newark (USA)// Laura Letinsky (USA) // Christophe Prebois – Gurus (France) // Cesura (Italy) // Paolo Regis (Italy) //Mirjam Spoolder (Holland/Switzerland) // Werner Anselm (Austria) // Tsutomu Yamagata (Japan) // Arpita Singh (Scotland) // Vasantha Yogananthan (France) //.

Neither Natural Nor Necessary, selections from III Form & Void Full, by Laura Letinsky, at The Muse Gallery © Genevieve Vanspall for Focus Photography Festival Mumbai 2015

Among the national participants who visited were:
Rahab Allana (Delhi) // Vivek Vilasini (Bangalore) // Rana Dasgupta (Delhi) // Shilpa Gavane (Bangalore) //Akshay Mahajan and Avni Tanya of blindboys.org (Bangalore) // Arpan Mukherjee (Shantiniketan) //Sameer Raichur, (Bangalore) // Motherland Magazine (Delhi) // Pa. Madhavan (Goa) // Prashant Panjiar (Delhi) // Bharat Sikka (Delhi) FotoCompany (Kolkata) // Vicky Roy (West Bengal).

Blindboys.org photo collective on Carter Road, at FOCUS Photography Festival Mumbai 2015 © Nicola Antaki

The theme of FOCUS 2015 was CROSSOVER, with artists invited to examine how the world is today seen and captured from multiple viewpoints. Mumbai, known for its dynamism and diversity, is fuelled by the intermingling of people from different states, faiths and social structures. The theme therefore celebrated photography’s role in challenging the way we see and understand both the city and the world, not only questioning collective notions of geography and history but also telling the intimate stories of the construction of identity and the exploration of self in today’s age.

The festival’s flagship exhibition was a major ‘Call for Entries’ exhibition, presented at Mumbai’s Dr. Bhau Daji Lad Museum, Byculla. The exhibition was the result of a worldwide call by FOCUS for photographers to submit work on the festival’s theme. Photographers were invited to explore in particular the ‘cultural crossover’ that has given rise to new forms of hybridisation and homogenisation of culture. Works of twenty photographers from around the world were selected from over one hundred submissions submitted. The final exhibition, entitled, Yaathum Oore, Yaavarum Kelir: The Whole World is My World, Humanity is My Fraternity was curated by Pa. Madhavan, Founder of the Wanted Series and Executive Director of the Goa Centre for Alternative Photography.

Yaathum Oore, Yaavarum Kelir – The Whole World is My World, Humanity is My Fraternity at the Dr. Bhau Daji Lad Museum exhibition by FOCUS Photography Festival Mumbai 2015 © Paolo Regis

One of the key aims of FOCUS is to celebrate the democratic nature of photography and engage everyone is this art form. Uniquely, exhibitions were therefore hosted not just in traditional gallery spaces but in shops, cafes and other public spaces. Exhibitions and events took place in 10 art and cultural spaces, 8 cafes and shops, 8 galleries, 2 museums, and 2 outdoor venues. Photography was also bought right out onto the city’s streets, thanks to the outdoor photographic intervention hosted by blindboys.org. The intervention saw photographs pasted onto the walls of Mumbai and showcased at a series of projections on the sea-front at Carter Road, Bandra.

Blindboys.org photo collective on Carter Road, at FOCUS Photography Festival Mumbai 2015 © Nicola Antaki

Bloomberg Philanthropies was the founding sponsor of FOCUS Photography Festival in 2013 and with its second year of support in 2015 expanded its commitment to supporting innovation access and new technologies in the arts. The festival is also grateful for the support of over 60 additional partners.

Read the FOCUS 2015 Impact report here: