By Chennai Photo Biennale
Chennai Photo Biennale 2016
Jointly organised by Goethe-Institut Chennai and Travelling Lens, CPB2016 brought together photographers from across the globe, paving the way for a healthy interaction and sharing of ideas to give rise to a strong photographic community in south India.
Chennai's first International Photo Festival
The event spanned two weeks comprising several print exhibitions, workshops, artist talks, symposiums and curated projections - 120 participating artists and 60 exhibitions, a staggering number.
Urban Water (2016) by Chennai Photo BiennaleChennai Photo Biennale
The workshop was held at the Goethe-Institut (Chennai) in January and was possible due to the generous sponsorship of PhotoConcierge.
Urban Water (2016) by Chennai Photo BiennaleChennai Photo Biennale
Participating Artists
Anshika Varma | India
Arun Vijai Mathavan | India
Balaji Maheshwar | India
Dhruv Dhakan | India
Gayatri Ganju | India
Jordi Pizarro | Italy
Urban Water (2016) by Chennai Photo BiennaleChennai Photo Biennale
Participating Artists
Kannagi Khanna | India
Karen Dias | India
Nikhil Roshan | India
Ronny Sen | India
Sathish Kumar | India
Urban Water (2016) by Chennai Photo BiennaleChennai Photo Biennale
Participating Artists
Sebastian Forkarth | Germany
Swastik Pal | India
Zishaan Akbar Latif | India
Surrealistic by Nature (2016) by Chennai Photo BiennaleChennai Photo Biennale
Exhibiting Artists
Aitor Lara | Spain
Cristina De Middel | Spain
Denis Dailleux | France
Suresh Punjabi | India
Karolin Klueppel | Germany
Piotr Zbierski | Poland
Zhang Xiao | China
Surrealistic by Nature (2016) by Chennai Photo BiennaleChennai Photo Biennale
“Surrealistic by Nature” evokes the spiritual and the material, fiction and reality, tradition and modernity.
These photos are living images that seven photographers have discovered in travel, in social rituals, in religious ceremonies, in cultural fantasies, in popular novels, in personal dreams and more generally in all the games, sacred or ordinary, that distorts identity and appearance.
Surrealistic by Nature (2016) by Chennai Photo BiennaleChennai Photo Biennale
The intention of this exhibition was to show, through the work of these photographers, a kind of resistance of cultural identity by traditional societies or smaller communities who have not as yet been completely anaesthetised by the modern consumerist world.
Surrealistic by Nature (2016) by Chennai Photo BiennaleChennai Photo Biennale
It was an attempt to glimpse at the mythical attitudes of these groups. But more than myths, these images showed people playing with symbols of a culture that is at ease with its traditions and hence can be self-mocking. Read more
Exhibition: Delhi Photo Festival
A massive selection from the Delhi Photo Festival was also a part of the 2016 Biennale. The exhibition included works of legendary Indian photographers Kishor Parekh and Raghu Rai, and international talents like Sarker Protick from Bangladesh and Olivier Culmann from France.
Delhi Photo Festival (2016) by Chennai Photo BiennaleChennai Photo Biennale
Exhibiting Artists and their works
Angelica Dass | Brazil- Spain | Humane Arjen Schmitz | Netherlands | The World around Us
Arturo Betancourt | Mexico | Perfect Citizen
Arun Vijai Matheran | India | Urban Montains
Danila Tkachenko | Russia | Restricted Areas
Daniella Zalcman | USA | Sunday Soldiers
Emmanuele Satolli | Italy | In the bag for north
Felix von der Osten | Germany | The Buffalo that could not dream
Delhi Photo Festival (2016) by Chennai Photo BiennaleChennai Photo Biennale
Jeremie Lenoir | France | Borders
Karloin Klüppel | Germany | Mädchenland (Kingdom of Girls)
Kasper Loftgaard | Denmark | Cowboy Life
Klaus Pichler | Austria | Just the two of us
Kishor Parekh | India | Bangladesh
Marina Paulenka | Croatia | The Other Home
Marylise Vigneau | France | Phnom Penh of the Future
Delhi Photo Festival (2016) by Chennai Photo BiennaleChennai Photo Biennale
Michael Dorst-Hansen | Denmark | Rohingya
Olivier Culmann | France | The Others Raghu Rai | India | The Album
Roger Anis | Egypt | Closets full of dreams
Sarker Protick | Bangladesh | Love Me or Kill me
Sebastian Forkarth | Germany | Safe Haven
Soham Gupta | India | Angst
Verena Andrea Prenner | Austria | Contained
CPB2016 Programs
In addition to the public exhibitions, various shows happened across the city’s premium art galleries such as Apparao, Art Houz, Focus, Gallery Veda OMR, Lakshana and Forum further expanding the reach of photography to art lovers. Artist Talks, Symposium, Portfolio Reviews and Photowalks were conducted to bring together the large community of photographers and photography lovers under one roof.
To know more about the 2016 Biennale, visit Chennai Photo Biennale website.
