#FaunaOfMirrors: The Face of Another

Here faces and bodies may transmogrify into other things, or stare at your you boldly.

By Chennai Photo Biennale

Chennai Photo Biennale 2019

Fairer People = Beautiful People + Powerful People (2012) by Arpan MukherjeeOriginal Source: Artist Website

Venue: Government College of Fine Arts, Chennai

The Government College of Fine Arts is the oldest art institution in India. The institution was established in 1850 by surgeon Alexander Hunter as a private art school.

Fairer People = Beautiful People + Powerful People (2012) by Arpan MukherjeeOriginal Source: Artist Website

Exhibiting Artists

Akhila Vijayaraghavan | India
Arpan Mukherjee | India
Chan Hyo-Bae | Korea
Shadi Gharidian | Iran

Fierce (2017) by Akhila VijayaraghavanOriginal Source: Artist Website

Fierce

By Akhila Vijayaraghavan (IND)

Fierce is an ongoing project started in 2017 by Akhila Vijayraghavan to explore the strength, joy, and ownership that physical activity brings to women within the Indian context.

Fierce (2017) by Akhila VijayaraghavanOriginal Source: Artist Website

Having been an active sports-person from an early age, she intimately understands the connection between movement and self-perception.

Fierce by Akhila VijayaraghavanOriginal Source: Artist Website

She hopes that Fierce will kick-start a dialogue on body positivity, especially among young girls who deal with unrealistic expectations of the female body. Read more

Fairer People = Beautiful People + Powerful People (2012) by Arpan MukherjeeOriginal Source: Artist Website

Fairer People = Beautiful People + Powerful People

By Arpan Mukherjee (IND)

A discussion was initiated among a group of dark complexion boys and girls on their experience of being dark. Issues about discrimination on the basis of skin colour and its possible reasons were discussed. 

Fairer People = Beautiful People + Powerful People (2012) by Arpan MukherjeeOriginal Source: Artist Website

Apart from the general thought that it derived from our colonial past, they also think that in our society it has a roll in terms of power demonstration.

Fairer People = Beautiful People + Powerful People (2012) by Arpan MukherjeeOriginal Source: Artist Website

Arpan Mukherjee used wet plate collodion and albumen print process to make their portrait, which has an established connection to anthropological photographic documentation process of Indian race and tribes by British photographers. Read more

Existing in Costume (2005-2007) by Chan-Hyo BaeOriginal Source: Artist Website

Existing in Costumes

By Chan-Hyo Bae (South Korea)

From a historical or social point of view, the difference of culture and language has been one of the most important standards that make a distinction between various social classes.

Existing in Costume (2005-2007) by Chan-Hyo BaeOriginal Source: Artist Website

Furthermore, this historical and cultural prejudice caused another prejudice against social positions in capitalist societies, transmitted from generation to generation by education or other social conventions.

Existing in Costume (2005-07) by Chan-Hyo BaeOriginal Source: Artist Website

Bae, in this self portrait series, expresses his feelings as an Asian immigrant and his feeling of alienation or the chaos of identity. Read more 

Ctrl+Alt+Del (2016) by Shadi GhadirianOriginal Source: Artist Website

Ctrl + Alt + Del

By Shadi Ghadirian (Iran)

They have transformed us. They have veiled us. Sometimes we hide behind them. Sometimes we get lost before them. Sometimes we scavenge them in search of lost loves. Through them, we sometimes escape the Real World. With one click, we sometimes get deleted.

They have transformed us. They are not like our mothers. They are unique to our era, to today's woman in a modern world. They transform us. They organize us. The read and write us. "They" are tiny icons on our computer. They define us the way you now see, me, today's woman.  Read more

Know more about the artists and their works on the Chennai Photo Biennale website.

Click here to listen to the CPB 2019 Artist Talks.

CPB2019 Programs
CPB Foundation organised curated walks and guided tours and conducted various workshops, photo walks, artist talks, films on photography and curated projections on the beach during the 2019 Biennale.

Credits: All media
The story featured may in some cases have been created by an independent third party and may not always represent the views of the institutions, listed below, who have supplied the content.
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