New Delhi, October 30, 2015: The British Council in association with the Nazar Foundation is hosting three eminent authors from the UK (Dr. David Campany, Olivia Arthur and Philipp Ebeling) for the third edition of Delhi Photo Festival 2015. The biennial Delhi Photo Festival is India’s first and biggest international photography festival, that brings photography, the real democratic art form, into the public space creating an awareness, appreciation and learning of photography as an art form. This year the theme of the festival is ‘aspire’ and is being held at the Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts (IGNCA) from October 30 to November 8, 2015.
The festival was inaugurated today and the key note address for the opening was given by Dr. David Campany - a renowned writer, curator, artist and teacher from UK. He was also part of the panel discussion on ‘What is photography in the 21st century?’ alongside Regina Anzenberger, Devika Daulet Singh, Rob Hornstra and Rahaab Allana. Artists and curators Olivia Arthur and Philipp Ebeling will be launching their books "Stranger" and "Land without a Past" respectively on 3 November at the British Council. The authors will be in conversation about their book with the curator of PHOTOUKINDIA, Rahaab Allana.
About the books:
Olivia Arthur's "Stranger": On 8th April 1961 the MV Dara, a ship carrying passengers between India, Pakistan and the Gulf, sank just off the port of Dubai. An estimated 238 people lost their lives. Olivia Arthur's project 'Stranger' imagines a survivor returning to Dubai fifty years later, and what they would see. Through photographs and small anecdotes, the viewer is taken on a journey through a city that is both awe-inspiring and alienating. The backbone of the project is the story of the shipwreck, transporting the viewer back and forth in history and acting as a reminder of the fragility and skin-deep nature of Dubai. Reflecting this fragility and suggesting the feelings of loneliness and disorientation often experienced by residents of Dubai, the book is printed on transparent paper. The result is that the layered images fade in and out of view, interspersed with quotes, memories and images of the shipwreck itself.
Phillip Ebeling's "Land Without a Past": Ebeling's first book 'Land without a past' is a deeply personal photographic essay on growing up in a small village in the north of Germany and a meditation on the relationship contemporary Germany has with its past. Documenting the quiet, precise way in which people conduct their lives, the obsession with making everything new and the almost fearsome stability Ebeling takes us into the life of a hard-working German village. In the book, contemporary portraits of family and friends are interwoven with images of everyday life in the village from the war years, bridging a gap in personal history.
About the UK authors
Dr. David Campany, writes, curates exhibitions, makes art and teaches a range of modules in photographic theory and practice, from undergraduate to doctoral study. He has spoken on various issues in photography at venues worldwide including Centre Pompidou, Jeu de Paume, the Reina Sofia Madrid, Tate Modern, New York's Museum of Art and Design, Aperture and Le Bal. In 2013 David curated major shows of the work of Mark Neville (The Photographer's Gallery, London) and Victor Burgin (AmbikaP3 and Richard Saltoun Gallery). In 2014 he curates three shows of the work of Walker Evans. In 2015 he curates 'A Handful of Dust' for Le Bal, Paris. For his writing, David has received the ICP Infinity Award, the Kraszna-Krauss Book Award, a Deutscher Fotobuchpreis, and the Royal Photographic Society’s award for writing. David has a PhD and currently teaches at the University of Westminster, UK.
Olivia Arthur was born in London and grew up in the UK. She studied mathematics at Oxford University and photojournalism at the London College of Printing. She began working as a photographer in 2003 after moving to Delhi and was based in India for two and a half years. In 2010 she co-founded Fishbar, a space for photography in London with Philipp Ebeling. Her first book Jeddah Diary, about young women in Saudi Arabia, was published in 2012. She continues to return to India - where her long-term work has been supported by a grant from the Fondation Jean-Luc Lagadere in Paris - and to work in London where she lives.
Philipp Ebeling works as an independent photographer, publisher of photography and curator. He is co-founder of Fishbar Gallery in Dalston, East London. He lives in London and is also the curator of 'Unknown Quantities' Young Magnum at Fishbar and 'Father and Son' Pablo and Richard Bartholomew at Fishbar. He was also the publisher and editor, Jeddah Diary by Olivia Arthur. He was the finalist of CENTER Photography Awards, Santa Fe, Participant Joop Swart Masterclass 2008, Amsterdam. He was the UK Winner Magenta Emerging Photographers Awards with 'Generation Perestroika'.