Mark your calendars from August 27 to September 11. PondyPHOTO 2016, the second edition of the festival organised by the PondyArt Foundation, is back at the Old Port on the southern end of the boulevard.
Apart from workshops, film screenings, community outreach initiatives and cultural performances including a rock concert, the fest will exhibit 400 large-format photographs this year.
Kasha Vande, Festival Director, in a press release issued on Wednesday, noted that the festival is themed on ‘water’ and aims to build social awareness on the evolving relationship between water and human beings, economic development and climate change.
“The Indian sub-continent’s many untold water stories will be narrated through images shot by over 50 international photographers. A highlight is ‘kitchen sink’ an exhibition curated by Cheryl Newman, former Photography Director of the Telegraph magazine, London.
Key presentations
On the opening weekend, PondyPHOTO will feature key presentations by distinguished photographers including political theorist and curator Maya Kovskaya, contemporary artist Atul Bhalla, award-winning photojournalist Pablo Bartholomew, biologist Tasneem Khan, women’s rights activist Sheba Chhachhi, photojournalist and founder of global documentary initiative Everyday Climate Change, James Whitlow Delano, and environmental activist Ravi Agarwal.
All these speakers will engage in a debate on water, activism and art, moderated by photographer Waswo X.Waswo.
Following the formal launch on August 26, vocalists will perform in different spaces within the Old Port. On the next day, a similar routine is designed around dance troupes. To entertain visitors on the final weekend, Chennai-based contemporary fusion band Oxygen and Kovilpatti-based Manalmagudi Theatre Land will play about diminishing public spaces.
Those facing the brunt of the global crisis for clean water — rural women, fisherfolk and farmers will share their perspectives in a Civic Forum, supported by Pondicherry Science Forum on September 3.
Besides, an interactive mime and a creative dance performance for children and special screenings are scheduled on September 4.
Filmmakers Shekar Dattatri and Sanjay Barnela will also interact with the audience. Public are invited to bring in stones, palms or metal waste and join the Temple Adventures team in the ‘Let’s build a Reef’ exercise to attract new aquatic wildlife.
All events are free and open to the public except for workshops on documentary storytelling and underwater macro photography and a vintage cycle tour themed around Puducherry’s own water stories.
The festival is organised in partnership with Government of Puducherry, Photo Concierge, Toxics Link, Heritage Commons, Kiran Nadar Museum of Art, Foundation for Indian Contemporary Art, Swiss Arts Council, Photo Ink, CMS Vatavaran, Pondicherry Science Forum, Alliance Francaise, Puducherry, French Institute of Pondicherry, Kalinka Art Gallery, SITA Cultural Centre, Sri Aurobindo Ashram and Temple Adventures.
