The Kolkata International Photography Festival (KIPF) 2019 that is shaping to become Asia’s largest such festival will kick off at the Indian Museum today. Eminent photographer, Raghu Rai, ace artiste, Jogen Chowdhury and filmmaker Goutam Ghose will be present among others at the inauguration. Between Feb 28 and March 6, photography lovers from across the world will savour an endless plethora of raw powerful story telling with photographers from Ethiopia to Nigeria, US to Iran, Japan to South Africa, Italy to Tunisia and Germany to Pakistan forming one of the largest foreign crop of powerful story tellers to ever come into India for a single festival.
The gigantic festival that boasts of photographs dating back to the 1940s to present day and is all set to serve a resounding reminder of Bengal’s domination in the field of arts boasts of some staggering numbers – over 250 photographers from as many as 40 countries showcasing nearly 1500 photographs in over 10 iconic venues.
The eight day festival has been christened the Maha Kumbh of photography and will turn Kolkata, India’s intellectual capital, into a gigantic venerable gallery. Shows will take place in almost all of the city’s top institutions like the Victoria Memorial and the Indian Museum to galleries like Harrington Street Arts Centre and Kolkata Centre for Creativity (KCC).
Some of the city’s most stunning private homes turned art spaces like Daga Nikunj to one of the city’s most gigantic movie theatres that now stands defunct – The Gem Cinema will also convert into a gallery during the days of the festival. The other venues also include the whole of Indian Council for Cultural Relations, Maya Art Space, Nandan and Kolkata Information Centre.
Source: E Times