Dear Readers,
We are overwhelmed by the love and continued support for our magazine. Our goal is to spark creative dialogues and create an online community space around new visual narratives and we are slowly seeing that emerge.
And in the real world, Exhibitions and photo-festivals bring the community together to do the same. This year, that has changed. Because of the pandemic, many of us haven’t been able to visit exhibits. The joy of spending time in a gallery conversing with other photography enthusiasts is infectious and even though we may not be able to fully do that this year, that cannot stop us from exploring a new way to keep the conversations flowing.
This year we have partnered with the Indian Photo Festival 2020, currently the largest photo festival in India to bring you this special issue. The IPF this year is partly online and will feature digital exhibitions along with online talks by great photographers.
From Bike Gangs in New York to reclusive Mennonites living remotely in Argentina, this year’s edition spans across the globe and brings stories that connect us through our common love for the art of photography and the quintessential need to document and understand the human condition.
We interviewed few such remarkable winners of the IPF Open Call. Our team also spoke to Aquin Mathews, director of the festival.
We also announced the winners of the SD x Photo South Asia Grant, 10 distinct photographers working on a multitude of subjects that are important and need a global platform. Their work will be displayed by the IPF in this year’s digital showcase. Vasant Nayak, founder of Photo SouthAsia speaks to us about supporting such art movements in his interview.
Lastly, we wanted to celebrate the great city of Hyderabad, home of the IPF and also a special place for me personally, where I began my photographic journey decades ago. Read on and explore the history of film and photography in Deccan.
Our hope is for you to take away a new thought or idea from this diverse issue and explore your own creative path. We can’t wait to hear from you.
Thank you to writers Yogesh Pawar, Annirudh Cheoolkar, Prof. Y.S Alone, Riyas Komu, Shraddha Ghatge, Amrit Gangar, Chandrashekar Singh, Navya Chittarvu, Prof. Mahendra Damle, Shrishti Mehra, Nileshh Gawde and Nirman Chowdhury, who contributed their time and words.
Happy reading!
Editor
Sudharak Olwe
Conversation
Photography as an art has thrived on the patronage and support of art lovers. Supporting the medium is essential to its growth, it encourages new, critical and important narratives to come to light and also makes it more accessible for people. Separated by continents, we spoke to two individuals who in their very unique ways are promoting and helping the photography community.
In Close Range
The IPF receives submissions from across the world for its annual open call. This year a diverse group of individuals and collectives sent in their work. Spanning across countries and different landscapes, some of the stories stood out to us and we spoke to the artists behind them.
Two Titans Face-to-face
Raghu Rai and Sebastiao Salgado
by Shristi Mehra
Special Story
Unexposed Collective
Interview by Shristi Mehra
Power of fearless, courageous
witnessing eye
Mahendra Damle