Public Art: Students in the Spotlight

Students of photography in various colleges across India (NID Gandhinagar, NIFT Chennai and Srishti School of Design) participated in the 2nd edition of Chennai Photo Biennale

Students' Showcase (2019) by National Institute of Fashion Technology, ChennaiChennai Photo Biennale

Students from four premium art colleges across India each took up a Mass Rapid Transport Station (MRTS) station in the city; transformed them into galleries to showcase their work on the current socio-political and socio-cultural state of affairs.

Students' Showcase (2019) by Srishti Institute of Art, Design and TechnologyChennai Photo Biennale

Participating Colleges

National Institute of Fashion Technology | Chennai
Shri Shankarlal Sundarbai Shasun Jain College for Women | Chennai
Srishti School of Art & Design | Bangalore
National Institute of Design | Gandhinagar, Gujarat

Students' Showcase (2019) by National Institute of Fashion Technology, ChennaiChennai Photo Biennale

Rivolta Alla Moda

By students of National Institute of Fashion Technology | Chennai

Students' Showcase (2019) by National Institute of Fashion Technology, ChennaiChennai Photo Biennale

Students of NIFT represented the visual culture of Chennai through an extravagant fashion fiesta. 

Students' Showcase (2019) by National Institute of Fashion Technology, ChennaiChennai Photo Biennale

Conceptualised as a 'Community Art Project', NIFT choreographed a series of high fashion editorials on various concepts such as Explorer, Royal Resurrection, Madras Checks, etc., by involving the local community as models.  

Students' Showcase (2019) by National Institute of Fashion Technology, ChennaiChennai Photo Biennale

Domestic help, delivery boys, daily labourers, auto drivers, flower vendors and mechanics were exceptionally transformed into style icons in this experimental narrative.  

Students' Showcase (2019) by National Institute of Fashion Technology, ChennaiChennai Photo Biennale

This fashion series presented fashionably styled Chennaites in unconventional poses and places, putting forward the fashion of Chennai on the global map. 

Students' Showcase (2019) by Shri SS Shasun Jain College for WomenChennai Photo Biennale

Reclaiming Public Space - Portraits of the Elderly

By students of Shri Shankarlal Sundarbai Shasun Jain College for Women | Chennai

Portraits are everywhere: in our homes, in our phones, in magazines, newspapers, museums and galleries, hoardings and on the city’s walls. In the public space, the face is seen in posters and on large hoardings.

Students' Showcase (2019) by Shri SS Shasun Jain College for WomenChennai Photo Biennale

These posters announce, among other things, a local politician’s candidacy, a political event in the area, or a missing person. This photo project seeks to reclaim the public space in the name of those who are invisible, and deemed insignificant - the elderly.

Students' Showcase (2019) by Shri SS Shasun Jain College for WomenChennai Photo Biennale

The large scale portraits seek to create an air of mystery over what lies behind these old faces and encourage viewers to think critically about the portrait and the public space, and who gets to be represented on its walls.

Students' Showcase (2019) by Srishti Institute of Art, Design and TechnologyChennai Photo Biennale

Forget Gold - Invest in Water

By students of Srishti Institute of Art, Design and Technology | Bangalore

The title of this project originates from a Wall Street trader’s alleged mantra for future investment. It raises questions about the ways in which we assign value to aspects of the world once assumed to be the right of all.

Students' Showcase (2019) by Srishti Institute of Art, Design and TechnologyChennai Photo Biennale

The reciprocal nature of our relationship with the environment is nowhere more acutely or intimately demonstrated than in our need for water – it constitutes around 60% of the composition of our bodies. It provides us with images of purity and corruption.

The value we confer on it takes many forms; biological, agricultural, industrial, aesthetic, spiritual, environmental and financial. Many of these demands are in competition with each other, if not in conflict. 

Students' Showcase (2019) by Srishti Institute of Art, Design and TechnologyChennai Photo Biennale

As many cities appear on the verge of a water crisis, brought on by changes in climate, increased demand and poor management, its financial value seems set to increase, paving the way for sometimes distant speculators to benefit financially from local shortages.

Art has a part to play in helping us to order our priorities in the light of these various demands. This exhibition demonstrates how artistic choices regarding medium and technique can be brought to bear on these ideas and issues. Much of the work in this show originated from research in Chennai.

Students' Showcase (2019) by Srishti Institute of Art, Design and TechnologyChennai Photo Biennale

Portrait of Erosion

By students of Srishti Institute of Art, Design and Technology | Bangalore

A person is influenced and made by the landscape of the place the person inhabits. Landscapes are also made by people involved in these places. “Invisible” layers form the landscapes around us; it is the history, scenery, people, and habit, eroded or lost in the flow of time across various contexts.

Students' Showcase (2019) by Srishti Institute of Art, Design and TechnologyChennai Photo Biennale

16 students from Srishti researched such landscapes across two cities of Bangalore and Chennai. Contexts of architecture in the colonial era, a textile factory, graffiti on the walls of train stations etc. were some of the locations chosen to enable dialogue between the two cities and their similarities.

Artist Jun Homma shot the portraits of students with each background and uses these as a medium to explore these invisible elements of various contexts. 

The portraits will be exhibited in both cities, thus themselves becoming a part of the layer of landscape acting as a catalyst that connects the past and the present, and the distances between both cities.

Students' Showcase (2019) by Srishti Institute of Art, Design and TechnologyChennai Photo Biennale

Each portrait penetrates and assimilates the background through the myriad of holes opened there. 

In addition, the pattern that appears on each facial part reflects the impression of the 'Kolam' the artist saw at the doorways of the houses of both cities as one of the many layers playing between what is visible and what is invisible.

Students' Showcase (2019) by National Institute of Design, GandhinagarChennai Photo Biennale

The Peninsular Coast

By students of National Institute of Design | Gandhinagar, Gujarat

Students' Showcase (2019) by National Institute of Design, GandhinagarChennai Photo Biennale

Focusing on the coast and coastal life in India, the selected works featured ten student projects all the way from the Coromandel coast in the South of India to the Rann of Kutch in the West.

These photographic projects chronicle the community life, sports, landscape, water systems connected to the coast, areas of cultural-historical significance and coastal towns.

Students' Showcase (2019) by National Institute of Design, GandhinagarChennai Photo Biennale

The coastal areas of Tamil Nadu have been prominent with culture, trade and architecture since the Sangam era, which dates back to 3 CE. The geography is layered by complex historical events, dynasties, natural calamities etc. Perhaps the most important historical event that happened on the coast of Kerala was the arrival of Vasco Da Gama in Kappad, Kozhikode. 

Even before that, various ports in Malabar had trade relations with the Arabs, Greek and the Chinese. Since then, the land has witnessed innumerable sedimentation of history, culture, and socio-cultural renaissance.

Students' Showcase (2019) by National Institute of Design, GandhinagarChennai Photo Biennale

The coast of Gujarat, often synonymous with the Dandi March led by Mahatma Gandhi, is written in the history of India. 

For centuries, ports have boasted of a history of international trade. The projects in this selection look at the various contemporary phenomena of these regions.

Credits: Story

Know more about the artists and their works at 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 workshopsphoto walksartist 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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