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Shifting Focus

In an era of fast paced digital innovation and with an ever increasing focus on technologically advanced equipment and high-end sophisticated gadgets, Shifting Focus aspired to extend the space of the medium to reaffirm the intuitive nature of photographs.


About this programme

Moving ahead from the age-old debates of whether photography can be termed as ‘art’ at all and the photographer an ‘artist’, photography has found its rightful place in the dominant perception of the contemporary art scenario in 2010. In an era of fast-paced digital innovation and with an ever increasing focus on technologically advanced equipment and high-end sophisticated gadgets, Shifting Focus aspired to extend the space of this medium to reaffirm the intuitive nature of photographs. Envisioning its role as an experimental space to foster alternative ideas, artistic exchange, and dialogue, the residency aimed to assist and facilitate a deviant discourse on photography, away from the ‘mainstream’ towards that of the ‘alternative’.

In pursuit of alternative photographic processes, Shifting Focus investigated the potential of the image, while exploring varied and often untried means of making images. Shifting Focus promoted the freedom to shift focus from conventional image-making methodologies to that of discovery and exploration through the practice of imagination and skill. The residency brought into focus that which escapes and eludes the ultimate camera obscura – the human eye, almost revealing a parallel universe to us in the process.

Rahaab Allana, Curator, Alkazi Foundation for the Arts, New Delhi, was the mentor for the artists-in-residence.

During this residency, Goa-Centre for Alternative Photography (Goa-CAP) visual artists P Madhavan and Edson Dias “sought to use the pinhole camera as performance, installation, image-making, and as research into the conversation between object, space, movement, and time.” Mansi Bhatt undertook an explorative journey into the unknown and faced the challenges therein. Equipped with her camera, she hoped “to confront the dark and the fear of the unknown, being able to break it apart, survive through and endure while being responsive to the surroundings and people around and with minimum manipulation.” Astro-photographer Ajay Talwar aspired to undertake work that would essentially form a bridge between science and art. By bringing  photographers and artists together from diverse backgrounds and art practices Shifting Focus attempted to create a unit of shared experience through an exciting exchange of ideas and technical skill. The residency aimed to cultivate a broader, more inclusive perception of photography in the realm of art.


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