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Phaneng: A journey into personal engagement

Samar Jodha2019

Chennai Photo Biennale

Chennai Photo Biennale
Chennai, India

Samar Jodha first came across members of the Tai Phake tribe in the winter of 2004, while driving along the historic Stilwell road from Southwest China into India’s cloistered northeast on a documentary project. Over the years he has spent a large part of his engagement with members of this community in Phaneng, a small village in upper Assam. Due to various reasons, their numbers a mere 1500 today and is on the verge of extinction.

His involvement in Phaneng has been with an education project, rebuilding a monastery, and a unique eco-tourism project that has built local capacity as well as raised incomes. His proximity to the Tai Phake community, their trust in him, the years spent documenting various facets of their life, all this gradually led him towards this large format portraiture project.

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  • Title: Phaneng: A journey into personal engagement
  • Creator: Samar Jodha
  • Date Created: 2019
  • Location: Gallery Vedha, Chennai
  • Type: Photograph
  • Original Source: Artist Website
  • External Link: Chennai Photo Biennale website
  • Exhibition title: Phaneng: A journey into personal engagement
  • Exhibition Description: A metaphoric journey through the darkening world of Phaneng’s tribal inhabitants.
  • CPB Edition: 2019
  • Artist's biography: Samar Singh Jodha is a photographer and installation artist who, over the last 25 years, has been using photography, film and public art projects to address various issues such as community development and conservation. Some of these include: BHOPAL – A Silent Picture is a multimedia installation which documents the aftermath of the Bhopal gas tragedy of 1984. The installation is housed in a 40-foot container, and has visited many locations globally, most notably the London Olympics. OUTPOST is a visual disquisition on spontaneous individual expression in a rapidly homogenising global culture. Discarded containers fashioned into habitat by miners were deployed in a pictorial trope at the 55th Venice Biennale. Samar is a regular speaker on TED and TEDx including speaking at TEDxVienna on the artist’s role in sustainability and capacity building.
Chennai Photo Biennale

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