From the sands of the iconic Marina beach to a street dog drinking water, the photographs on display at the third edition of the Chennai Photo Biennale celebrate Tamil Nadu in its vivid glory.
Organised in collaboration with the Goethe Institute/ Max Mueller Bhavan, the seven-week exhibition was opened at the Government Museum in Egmore in the city on Saturday. It showcases photographs clicked by 40 schoolchildren from private as well as government schools, including Kendriya Vidyalayas, across the state.
The Chennai Photo Biennale Foundation is a non-profit aiming to promote photographic art, meaningful sociocultural discussions and educational activities. Active around the year, it engages different communities and generations through exhibitions, workshops, panel discussions, presentations, and mentorship and educational programmes.
Delving deeper into the theme, Gayatri Nair, co-director of the biennale and the head of CPB Prism, the foundation's education wing, said, 'During Covid, we were all restricted to one space and not able to travel much. The idea for this year's exhibition was to try and ask students to portray their home town through their lens. Whether it was architecture, markets or people or culture, it was all up to the perspective of the child.'
Forty students were selected and mentored in the art of photography on the iPhone 13 mini smartphone. 'These students were already part of different programmes started by Goethe Institut in their schools. While 25 students are from Chennai, the rest come from across the state and Puducherry,' Gayatri said.
'A few students were with us for the last two years because of all the workshops we have done. We also collaborated with Kendra Vidyalayas and chose students based on their interest,' she added.
The final event of this year's biennale is the photo exhibition. This year the biennale has been progressing in a hybrid mode—with physical exhibitions and virtual mentoring going hand in hand.
'We had a lot of online programmes, seminars and workshops this year. The good thing about this is we tapped into a whole new audience, which would not have been possible if it were a Chennai-based physical show only,' Gayatri said.
Before the final photographs were selected, the 40 students attended online workshops and were trained once or twice a week for the past 2-3 months.
Habiba, the lead educator of the CPB Prism programme, said, 'It was interesting to mentor the students through Zoom. For the students in Chennai, we had them come over to the office and trained them for a bit. But a large chunk of our programme was done online. Through this, we would teach the students about the basics of photography, and they would go out and shoot and we would give them feedback.'
CPB Prism works towards empowering students to leverage arts for creative expression through workshops, online learning modules and photo exhibitions.
Said Raksita Rajagopal, a Class 12 student of CSI St. Ebbas Matriculation School, Mylapore, 'While I have taken pictures casually since my childhood, it was when I came to this programme that I learned a lot about photography. I learned how to take pictures professionally and also how to connect with my objects and nature.'
It was Raksita who snapped the street dog drinking water. 'Since we were restricted to our homes, I began photographing things in my neighbourhood. I see this dog every day and we give it food often, so I thought photographing this dog would represent the theme,' she said.
The students, aged between 12- 17 years, kept the theme in mind and captured various shades of their home towns keeping in mind the frames and techniques taught by their mentors.
SP Meghnad, a Class 9 student of Kendriya Vidyalaya at Anna Nagar, said, 'When you think of Chennai, you cannot help but think of the Marina beach. The beach is hard to miss and is everyone's favourite. So I thought why not photograph the beach?'
BR Divahar, from Puducherry, said he had had a passion for clicking photographs since a younger age and that the workshop had guided him in the right direction. 'The experience was great. The mentors were supportive throughout the workshop and would answer all our questions,' he said. 'After clicking over 300 photographs, I shortlisted the best three of them, which also happened to be from my favourite spots.'
Talking about the challenges they faced, Habiba said, 'Since it was the first time we had done it online, there were a few challenges. It was hard to coordinate with students from across schools and cities. We also had to schedule the sessions so as not to clash with their exams. It was hard to keep them focused amid their exams. But we have come this far only due to the interest the students showcased.'
Habiba concurred with Gayatri that a major challenge was the Covid lockdowns that restricted the students in their own homes and neighbourhoods. 'It was hard for the parents to take them out to different locations,' Habiba said.
However, Habiba felt that they had made most of the situation, 'As a teacher, I am proud to see how far they have come. From where they started to where they have come today, with their photographs on display, it has been a great journey and I am glad to have been part of this journey,' she said.
Raksita, Meghnad and Divahar were proud and excited, but also nervous about the exhibition.
While Meghnad said that he felt nervous and proud to see his pictures on display for the first time, Raksita said, 'I am proud but also nervous. I don't know how people will react to my pictures. This is my first time, but I enjoyed it a lot.'
Divahar's parents spoke to indianexpress.com. 'It is such a proud moment to see our son's work displayed in public. Since we are from Pondicherry, this is an experience for us too. While it was hard to take Divahar to different places and shoot, we thoroughly enjoyed it,' they said, using the old name of the Union Territory. Meghnad is confident that the workshop has helped him in the right direction and said he would pursue photography in the future.
'For a lot of art forms including photography, it is important to take it to as large an audience as possible—and a diverse audience. We want to see if we can take it elsewhere too,' Gayatri said.
'Through the Chennai Photo Biennale, we aim to foster a community that inspires curiosity, reflection and self-expression. This way we want to tell youngsters that being an artist or a photographer is a possibility for your future growth,' she said.
