Awardees to create a body of work on the theme
of sustainable development that will be exhibited in a large-scale exhibition
at India Habitat Centre in December 2016
New Delhi: Harikrishna Katragadda, Monica Tiwari, Shraddha Borawake
and K. R Sunil have been selected amongst hundreds of applicants as the four
winners of the Habitat Photosphere award. The winners were announced on
Saturday, March 5 at the India Habitat Centre (IHC), New Delhi. An eminent jury
comprising of practising and eminent photographers – Bandeep Singh, Parthiv
Shah, Aditya Arya and Prabir Purkayastha - went through a rigorous procedure of
debating and discussing each application to select the final four winners. Each
winner will be now awarded a monetary grant of Rs 2 lakh to create a body of
work on the theme of sustainable development. The award is part of a year-long
photography festival titled Habitat Photosphere initiated by IHC and curated
and conceptualized by the art historian Dr Alka Pande. The works of these four
awardees will be exhibited in a month-long exhibition at the India Habitat
Centre in December 2016.
The award of Rs 2 lakh will cover the expenses
related to travel and research undertaken by the photographer. The IHC shall
bear the expense of the producing a comprehensive outdoor exhibition featuring
the works of the awardees at India Habitat Centre. This will be supplemented
with an equally insightful book titled ‘Panchatattava’ which will also serve as
a catalogue for the exhibition. Each of the four photographers will be mentored
through the next eight months by Aditya Arya, Bandeep Singh, Prabir Purkayastha
and Parthiv Shah.
Says Parthiv Shah, who will be mentoring
Harikrishna Katragadda: “The role of the mentor will be to channelize their
thinking and energies on the broad theme of environmental damage, restoration
and preservation. Beyond the award, this exposure would help in creating a long
term commitment on using photography for environmental education and
protection.”
Added Bandeep Singh, who will mentor Monica
Tiwari: “While some applications were very technique-savvy, other scored on
content. The winning applicants, of course, scored highly on all our parameters
- style, execution and concept.”
Prabir Purkayastha, who will be mentoring
Shraddha Borawake commented, “We were impressed by the fact that Shraddha
has gone beyond the visual language of photography and works in a transmedial
way using photography as a central point creating two and three dimensional
works. We want to encourage new languages in photography through this festival
and that is where she scored.”
On the other hand, KR Sunil will be mentored by
Aditya Arya. Said Arya, “Sunil unanimously wowed the jury with his honest work
tinged with an unadulterated innocence.”
PSBT representative Tulika Srivastava and Dr
Alka Pande, Artistic Director, Habitat Photosphere also gave their opinions and
views during the selection process.
For the exhibition slated in December 2016,
Katragadda plans to travel to the cities and towns along the Ganges, with have
high concentration of leather and metal industries, and the burning ghats of
Benaras. He says, “I am interested in portraits of people, animals and various
life forms affected by pollution. The aim is to pollute the photographic image
like the landscape it represents.”
Monica Tiwari aims to document the lifestyle
changes caused due to migration. “My project aims to focus on the challenging,
uncertain, and heartbreaking journeys undertaken by the parents who migrate,
and especially focusing on the children and the elderly who are left behind in
their native lands.”
Shraddha Borawake will be working towards an
installation-based project while K.R Sunil aims to document the fast-disappearing
ponds in various parts of Kerala.
Habitat Photosphere awards have been supported
by Future Institute, Tarun Khiwal, Infrastructure Leasing and Financial
Services Ltd, Aim Television, PSBT, Bank Of Maharashtra, Picsdream and
Foundation of Universal Responsibility of His Holiness The Dalai Lama (FUR).
