The Middle of Somewhere has been selected as part of ‘The Photobook Exhibition’ at the Benaki Museum as part of Athens Photo Festival 2016
FORM and FotoFreo‘s joint venture ‘Divergence – Photographs from Elsewhere’ launched last week at the Midland Railway Workshop, Perth (and runs until April 15th). I’ve just got back from FotoFreo, what a great festival! I’ve had such a wonderful time meeting other photographers, spending hours in conversation and of course checking out some great work. I also had a chat with Peter Barr on RTR’s breakfast show, digging up some rock’n’roll gossip from my ‘past life’ in London…
My series Postcards from Home was part of the Elsewhere exhibition. The Midland Railway Workshops is a truly inspiring space and i think everyone was struck by it. It’s a massive old Victorian red brick and steel space and although i was a little concerned that we might need an entire army to fill it, the opening night however was buzzing! well done and a massive thanks goes out to all the team at FORM and of course FotoFreo.
Martin Parr talks about the art of rolling rock… from his series ‘Black Country Stories’ Photo © Sam Harris
from the series ‘Matter’ by Bharat Sikka
from the series ‘Matter’ by Bharat Sikka
from the series ‘Twinspotting’ by Ketaki Sheth
from Sohrab Hura’s night projection
from the series ‘ ‘Benares, Holi and The Naga Sadhus at the Ardh Kumbh Mela’ by Sohrab Hura
from the series ‘Benares, Holi and The Naga Sadhus at the Ardh Kumbh Mela by Sohrab Hura
from the series ‘Postcards from Home’ by Sam Harris
from the series ‘Postcards from Home’ by Sam Harris
Indian Habitat Center – Photo © Sam Harris
Self Portrait, Indian Habitat Center – © Sam Harris 2011
Firstly, a MASSIVE thank you to everyone at the Delhi Photo Festival… Organisers and the team… all the volunteers, and all the photographers… you made it happen! and what an event it was! For the first time it brought together the greatest photographers of India. All under one roof… sharing their photographic journey’s and experiences with each other and the many visitors that swarmed into the Indian Habitat Center everyday. For many it was a very emotional week.
from ‘Homework’ by Sean Lee
from ‘Homework’ by Sean Lee
apologies for the spotlight reflections on the glass… please check out Sean’s website here
Postcards from Home by Sam Harris
from ‘Postcards from Home’ by Sam Harris
from ‘A Window Inside’ by Lana Slezic
from ‘A Window Inside’ by Lana Slezic
beautiful and thought-provoking… Lana’s series on women in Afghanistan. Please take a look at Lana’s website here
from ‘Backdrop Series’ by Raghu Rai
more of Raghu Rai here
from ‘Viv(R)e La Vie!’ by Ana Galan
you can see more of Ana’s work here
from ‘Bees’ by Zhe Chen
check out Zhe’s website
from ‘At A Tent Theatre Near You’ by Amit Madheshiya
Amit’s website
from ‘Solitary Splenour’ by Zishaan Akbar Latif
again, apologies for the spotlight reflections… wonderful personal series by Zishaan on his Grandfather, please check out his website
from the group show ‘Photographing The Street – Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka curated by Devika Daulet-Singh – Dog photo by Balazas Gardi
from ‘Bideshi Photostudio’ by Kurt Hoerbst
Kurt’s website is here
from ‘I’ll Die For You: Suicide In Rural India’ by Laura El-Tantawy
from ‘I’ll Die For You: Suicide In Rural India’ by Laura El-Tantawy
for more of Laura’s work please check out her website
The festival was very well curated i think. An eclectic mix of international and Indian photographers. Each photographers work was shown uniquely, creatively and with respect to the work. No doubt the Indian Habitat Center was the perfect location… with it’s large open courtyards, galleries, amphitheater and conference rooms… I loved the nightly slideshows in the amphitheater. A few that have stayed with me are Sohrab Hura’s eclectic mix (with great music) the International book launch of ‘Magnum Contact Sheets‘ and Shahidul Alam’s book launch and talk ‘My Journey As A Witness’.
However… the most memorable and valuable experience of the festival for me, has to be the daily photographers talks. Each afternoon 3 photographers… The list of speakers runs like a who’s who of Indian photography, the place was packed to the rafters and beyond and totally buzzing!!! every single day!!!
Many of the talks were fascinating and enriching as most photographers shared their life journey through photography… Each photographer’s unique personality shinned through in their work. I enjoyed so many… but a few really stayed with me, especially Prabuddha Dasgupta’s Longing, which i’d seen a different version of on Burn a while back. Beautiful work and great to hear Prabuddha talking about the process and the challenges of editing miscellaneous personal moments into a body of work. He mentioned that a writer friend of his has said ‘a string of words held together by grace’. Nice… I also enjoyed Swapan Parekh talking about his transition from shooting documentary work into doing advertising with a documentary ascetic. Also noteworthy were the talks by Pablo Bartholemew and Dayanita Singh representing the senior class and Munem Wasif and Sohrab Hura from the young generation… all in all it was a fantastic experience and i am most honored and grateful to have been able to take part. I’m looking forward to the next Delhi Photo Festival in 2013…
Birthmark on the Map explores rural lifestyles and is a blog as well as a touring exhibition.
In April 2011, the Birthmark on the Map blog was short-listed for Deutsche Welle Blog Awards, an international competition of blogs and web communities. Birthmark was also voted number four in the Best Russian Blog nomination, right behind two blogs by Alexey Navalny and Lenta.ru. In 2012, Birthmark on the Map will be presented at the Head On photo festival in Sydney, Australia.
I’m very happy to say that my portrait of Uma has been selected to be part of this exciting exhibition.
Photo © Anton Unytsin 2011
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‘It was june and we took a Russian Golden Ring cruise on a Volga river boat. We made a stop in Makaryev. There’s an ancient kremlin on the river bank, now a woman’s convent. I noticed people disembarking from a ferry, my attention was drawn to a strong man with bare torso wearing kersey boots and carrying a bag. We started talking and I learned that he helps old women with hard household work: mending fences, building bathhouses. Locals consider him odd’
I am very happy to announce that my series Postcards from Home has been selected to exhibit at the Delhi Photo Festival in October. I’ll also be giving a talk / slideshow presentation ‘Transition – from London to the Bush’.
India has always felt like a second home to me, so i’m very much looking forward to getting back there… It looks like it’s going to be a great festival with an interesting mix of local and international photographers including two of my favorite Burn EPF 2011 Finalists Laura El – Tantawy and Zhe Chen, the prolific Australian Stephen Dupont and the Indian master Raghu Rai.
But really there are so many wonderful photographers to check out, it doesn’t seem right to only mention a few… So please take a look at all the exhibitors here.
from the series Postcards from Home – © Sam Harris
I just returned a few days ago from Sydney and the Head On photo festival … My head is still spinning, so much to process & share… I had too much of a good time! Hard to tear myself away, knowing that it’s all continuing for another 3 weeks…
I met so many wonderful people, a diverse bunch of photographers and other industry folk. With so many openings, almost every night, i caught some great exhibitions and drunk way too much red wine : ))
It all started with a trip to meet my printer Warren Macris. It’s the first time ever that i’ve had to work with a printer long distance… Going to check the exhibition prints was a nerve raking experience, but to my immense relief Warrens’ reputation is well-earned. He’s a master printer and i was delighted with the results.
Warren Macris… the final cut – Sydney 2011 © Sam Harris
Next it was over to Global gallery to hang my Postcards from Home exhibition. An exciting part of the whole process, to walk into an empty space and start spreading your prints out on the floor and eventually seeing a few years work going up onto the walls. Global gallery has several rooms, all showing photographers work as part of the Head On Festival. My neighbours were Ying Ang, Natalie Grono, Eliza Gregory & Kelly Ann Denton. The togetherness and support between photographers helped make the exhibition for me.
Hanging with Ed Crosskill @ Global gallery, Sydney 2011 © Sam Harris
Out on the floor… @ Global gallery, Sydney 2011 © Sam Harris
Uma, steamy window @ Global gallery 2011 © Sam Harris
Wall # 5 Global gallery, Sydney 2011 © Sam Harris
My good friend Andy Baker kindly made the video below at the exhibition.
