The Kolkata International Photo Festival will transcend boundaries and engage in spiritual, social, rural and aesthetic dialogues with traditions other than our own. By Uma Nair
In an age where communication is instant and we see a melding of East and West like never before, the Kolkata International Photo Festival (KIPF) will transcend boundaries and celebrate the beauty of a common man.
The festival opens on February 28 and among its lineup of ace shutterbugs are two international names — American photo journalist Ami Vitale and the Columbian photographer Carlos Saavedra. People can experience images that create an incredible mosaic of inter-cultural dialogues and reflect a diversity of thought and style. When the past and the present unite, it creates the essence and fervour of a global community. Thus KIPF will engage in spiritual, social, rural and aesthetic dialogues with traditions other than our own. While Vitale captures wildlife at its tender and compassionate manifestations, Saavedra does a deep-stirring set of earthy images entitled Madres/Mothers.
Ami Vitale
Nikon ambassador and National Geographic magazine photographer Ami Vitale has travelled to more than 100 countries, bearing witness not only to violence and conflict, but also to surreal beauty and the enduring power of the human spirit. Throughout the years, Ami has lived in mud huts and war zones, contracted malaria, and donned a panda suit — keeping true to her belief in the importance of “living the story.” In 2009, after shooting a powerful story on the transport and release of one the world’s last white rhinos, she shifted her focus to today’s most compelling wildlife and environmental stories.
“Behind every one of my iconic images is an amazing story. My motto is that I’m the first there and last to leave. I am up before sunrise and I’m the last one to go to bed. My key to success is patience. Ninety-nine per cent of the time I’m not taking pictures. I’m asking questions, listening, exploring, waiting for people to know me so they let me into their world,” says Vitale.
She does the same thing with her stunning wildlife portraits that tell more than a thousand stories and have a soul.
Vitale’s image of the world’s last rhino is one that will surely make your heart skip a beat. His caretaker is seen bowing his head in abject desolation and love as he bids good bye to his friend. Vitale’s note says it all.
“This week, I made a heartbreaking journey back to Kenya to say goodbye to Sudan, the world’s last male northern white rhino alive on the planet. Today, I am launching a print sale with a choice of two images, one of the final moments of Sudan and an image of Fatu, Sudan’s granddaughter and one of the last two surviving female northern white rhino on the savannah. I am donating 100 per cent of the profits to support Ol Pejeta so that they can continue on their mission of protecting and fighting for some of the world’s most vulnerable creatures. Sudan lived a long and good life and he was surrounded by love, with the people who committed their lives to protecting him,” Vitale says.
In another image we see a baby elephant being caressed to sleep, while in yet another a rhino nuzzling his caretaker with intense affection warms your heart. Of course, the giraffe tickling a caretaker’s chin with lick is a story that will always keep you smiling. Vitale’s works will make all of us think about the beauty, the value of wildlife, its conservation and protection.
Carlos Saavedra
Columbian photographer Carlos Saavedra has an impeccable record of projects that straddle nations from Mexico to Bangladesh as well as India and Columbia. From studying Women Fighters — Bangladesh (2015 — ongoing), The Shugsep Nuns — India (2016), Old Dhaka — Bangladesh (2016), La Nana — Mexico (2015), Madres Terra — Colombia (2014), Huitaca — Colombia (2011-2012) we see a series of studies that look at rituals, women, childhood and atmospheres.
Women issues have always been a critical part of the body of work because femininity is where life is created in a biological, anthropological and mythological way according to him. One of his most important projects has been Madres Terra, which explores the interaction between earth and a group of mothers. He photographs the earth and frames some of them in the soil. In others, he just uses their faces as profiles juxtaposed in the soil as if in death and reincarnated. The burial symbolises rebirth. In one stunning image we see a woman, her hair strewn carelessly around her, lying in the mud.
His work has been exhibited in New York, Los Angeles, London, Washington, Mexico and Dhaka. He was selected for the Ian Parry Scholarship, the 2015 New York times Portfolio Review, the 2015 Eddie Adams Workshop and was a finalist for Photo of the Year for National Geographic in 2012, among other awards. He has done lectures at Conarte in Mexico, at Los Andes University in Bogotá, Colombia and recently in New York at the United Nations headquarters for the Commission on the Status of Women (CSW).
