The Importance of Seeing for Oneself through the Eyes of Others

Abstract

Daegu Photo Biennale Daegu, South Korea September 9-October 28, 2012 Lianzhou International Photography Festival Lianzhou, China November 23-December 18, 2012 Photo Phnom Penh Phnom Penh, Cambodia December 8-30, 2012 Chobi Mela International Festival of Photography Dhaka, Bangladesh January 25-February 7, 2013 Photography festivals represent Opportunities to meet photographers, known and unknown, as well as curators, gallerists, and academics--all in a particular kind of bubble typically a hotel or cultural center and at various venues about town. There are usually a variety of lectures, workshops, exhibition openings, much mingling over wine and canapes, and exchanging of ideas and contacts over yet more wine. It sounds mondaine. It sounds like a junket. It sounds sell-indulgent. It often is. Welcome to Arles. As it is in Arles, it is also for many festivals in America and Europe. To be sure. there are often interesting exhibitions and sometimes meaningful, learned talks, but, in many cases, a photography festival is merely a self-contained status-acknowledging gathering that does little more than confirm One's status as a player in photography world, whatever that is. Obviously there are exceptions where, as with FotoFest in Houston, portfolio reviews, are vitally important and go beyond mere confirmation of status and repetition or shows of same photographers around as they exchange exhibitions from venue to venue. And then are festivals that truly exceed this passe paradigm and do something different. The festivals in Daegu, Lianzhou, Phnom Penh, and Dhaka all serve different agendas and different audiences with different intentions. The festival movement came late to Asia for a variety of reasons--political, economic, and, one can argue, because of domination of America and France as centers of everything photographic. Asia, let alone Africa, pace Bamako, was ignored until only a few years ago. Where festivals have been launched in Bamako, Lianzhou, and Pingvan, among other locales, they have largely taken on either Arles and/or European artistic direction as guiding lights in early, and, in cases, ongoing, years. While this might be justified as a means of bringing to attention of Western audiences local photographers. it has also led to a certain amount of cultural colonialism, whereby Western curators and gallerists have promoted and, in cases--as with Malick Sidibe and Seydou Keita perhaps exploited photographers and artists discovered at their festivals. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] It is long since time for photographers and curators in what multi-award-winning Bangladeshi photographer and Chobi Mela festival director Shahidul Alam calls the majority world to take charge of own destinies as photographers and to tell own stories without intervention of others. Some have risen to necessity of photographers getting words out in own ways via own pictures rather than having Wester photo agencies send in what Frank Zappa called in his 1966 song Trouble Every Day in response to Watts riots) some joker with a Brownie, to tell stories from what: London. Paris, and New York consider Far East. To this end four festivals in Asia Lianzhou International Photography Festival (LIPP), Photo Phnom Penh (PPP), Daegu Photo Biennale, and Chobi Mela International Festival of Pbotography--represent extremely interesting challenges to status quo, and demonstrate virtues of nurturing local photographers and exposing them to international photography, while introducing international guests to local photographers. Under overall direction of Sujong Song and live guest curators, shows at Daegu festival were loosely grouped under theme of Photographic! …